Jon Cohen

Shots in the Dark

As HIV continues its death march around the globe, now infecting 40 million people, an AIDS vaccine still remains an elusive goal.

When scientists first proved in 1984 that HIV causes AIDS, a vaccine race quickly spun into action with high hopes that the world would soon have a means to stop this modern plague. But the race to develop an AIDS vaccine now more closely resembles a crawl.

Jon Cohen, a leading AIDS reporter, tells how the forces inside and outside the world of science have hindered the AIDS vaccine search. He reveals the complicated obstacles that stymie researchers, the uncertain marketplace that confronts pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, the haphazard political response, and the ethical dilemmas that give pause to everyone involved. He goes behind the scenes at academic labs, companies, government agencies, scientific meetings, and investment houses and documents how promising leads go nowhere as scientists jump from one fashionable idea to the next. Beyond the critique of the current methods and strategies, Cohen offers a persuasive plan for coordinating the scientific efforts, the business interests, and the governmental responsibility in order to achieve more effectively the desired goal of an AIDS vaccine.