As we identified before, there was an interest on the part of the Gates Foundation and the Government of Canada to move forward on the HIV vaccine initiative, recognizing that because of the complexities Mr. Malo has identified in dealing with an HIV vaccine and the multiple unsuccesses, it would require a concerted effort around the world of linked researchers, linked organizations, and government involvement to get there. It wasn't something you could do with the usual processes, a few researchers here and there being generally interested.
This came together in the announcement of joint funding between the Government of Canada—multiple departments in the Government of Canada, not just ourselves—and the Gates Foundation. That led to an invitation for the submission of applications in April 2008. In June we received letters of intent from interested applicants. On November 10, four were informed that their LOIs were successful, in terms of their being invited to submit full applications. In March 2009 the Gates Foundation initiated a study on the global supply, again to review the original assumptions to make sure, before we committed dollars, that we still had the need.
In March 2009 the applications were received, and from April 2009 to January 2010 there was a comprehensive review that included external reviewers, done between April and June of 2009, that looked at everything...and they had expertise in everything from vaccine research to facility construction, vaccine manufacturing, etc.
In 2009 the Gates Foundation had completed the supply-and-demand study. It pointed to our needing possibly to think about a different decision: if the capacity is now out there, did we want to go down this path? They contacted us; we reviewed the study with them and looked at expert opinion, in terms of what else was out there and how valid it was, recognizing again that this was a major commitment of the Government of Canada and of the Gates Foundation and that to change course would require a significant event, and of course, because people expect you to hold to the same idea even if the circumstances change, that we needed to be very careful that it is the right decision.
So from July until January, a full internal review was done taking into account all of those aspects. In the third week of January I called each of the proposal proponents personally, because I wanted them to hear from me what the real circumstances were. Then we jointly communicated that we would not move forward on a facility but that we were continuing to move forward to make a significant contribution on the development of a vaccine against HIV/AIDS.
So that's where we are.