A Los Angeles Times editorial (latimes.com, 4/1) published today offers possible solutions to concerns raised recently around the failure last September of a promising HIV vaccine produced by Merck. The piece calls for smaller, narrowly focused trials as opposed to the large-scale efforts that have seen little success.

With a $100 million vaccine trial currently underway in Thailand, and another about to launch, officials from the AIDS Healthcare Foundation have voiced opposition to vaccine funding, encouraging instead increased funds for treatment and prevention.

However, the Times editorial notes that the current U.S. funding for vaccine research stands at only $700 million, compared with $15 billion currently allocated for treatment and prevention.

“The NIH should continue with the fourth vaccine trial but reduce its scope,” the Times writes. “Agency officials are right to say that the best future for an AIDS vaccine lies in the laboratory and in narrower trials that can point to the most promising paths while they add to our knowledge of the disease.”