Gates pledges $100m for AIDS

DAVOS, Switzerland -- Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates has pledged $100 million to the search for an AIDS vaccine.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Saturday, the Microsoft chief also challenged the rich and famous attending to pitch in as well.

Yahoo! also promised $5 million over three years -- the first corporate sponsor of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative.

Noting that more than five million people were infected with the AIDS virus last year alone, Gates said the private push was mean to correct "an unbelievable market failure" of not developing a vaccine 20 years after the first cases.

"The one thing that would really change the picture would be a vaccine," he said. But with most of the new infections in the developing world, "there's no way commercial companies are going to see this as a priority."

The pledges come as the head of the initiative, Dr. Seth Berkley, announced that the first vaccine candidate designed specifically for Africa -- the hardest hit continent -- will enter clinical trials in Nairobi soon after winning approval from the Kenyan government.

Several of the 18 volunteers needed for phase one of the trial -- focusing mainly on the safety of the vaccine -- have already been screened, Berkley said at the forum.

Gates' commitment extends from 2002 to 2006, during which time the initiative hopes 25 possible vaccines will be introduced into development and comparison trials.

His organisation intends to sponsor eight to 12 of them, and has raised $230 million of the $550 million it's expected to cost.

Yahoo's pledge will be used to develop a public-awareness campaign on Yahoo! sites around the world, Berkley said.

"AIDS is a devastating global problem and we look forward to lending the power of our global network to help find a solution," Yahoo! co-founder David Filo said in a statement.

Scientists from Britain's Medical Research Council, Oxford University and the University of Nairobi have been collaborating on the Kenyan project for more than four years.

Much of their research has been based on a group of prostitutes from a Nairobi slum who appear to be immune to the deadly disease.

They have developed two vaccines which they hope to use in tandem to create immunity to HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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