The Trump administration terminated $258 million in funding to the Center for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Development (CHAVD) Friday, including $129 million for Duke.
Researchers were told that the Department of Health and Human Services instead wanted "to go with currently available approaches to eliminate HIV."
CHAVD is jointly led by the Duke Human Vaccine Institute (DHVI) and the Scripps Research Institute and worked to develop vaccines that could guide the immune system to produce a set of antibodies to neutralize HIV.
Both research consortia had received $129 million seven-year grants from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in 2019 to support their work. For the DHVI, this was the third seven-year grant awarded by the institute for this purpose.
As reported by the New York Times, a senior official at the agency who was not authorized to speak on the matter and asked not to be identified said, "The consortia for HIV/AIDS vaccine development and immunology was reviewed by [National Institutes of Health] leadership, which does not support it moving forward."
The decision comes amid sweeping federal cuts to HIV research, including the cancellation of funding for a clinical trial of HIV vaccines produced by Moderna.
According to many scientists and federal health officials, the Trump administration argues that current approaches are sufficient to combat the virus.
But HIV has no cure. The disease gradually compromises the immune system by attacking a type of immune cell crucial to fighting infections. If left untreated, HIV can progress to AIDS, which is marked by severe immunodeficiency. Nearly 40,000 people in the U.S. were affected by HIV in 2023.