New HIV vaccine study, funding for research mark World AIDS Day (Morning Read)

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On World AIDS Day, new hope for an HIV vaccine. A new HIV vaccine tested in mice resulted in apparent 100 percent protection against the virus. Mice with human immune cells were injected with a protective gene that can slip into cells and make them pump out antibodies. The California Institute of Technology researchers say they don’t know whether the vaccine will work in humans, but they hope to progress to trials in a few years.

President Obama today is expected to renew the country’s commitment to ending the disease by pumping $50 million into HIV/AIDS research and setting a goal of getting 2 million more people around the world access to antiretroviral drugs by the end of 2013.

Onyx for sale? Shares of Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. shot up this week after talk that the drug company, which is developing a drug for blood cancer called carfilzomib, is exploring options of a sale. Bloomberg says Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline and Takeda could be interested acquirers.

The challenges of healthcare CEOs. Inspired by a speech from Michael Dowling, the president and CEO of NorthShore-Long Island Jewish Health System, Becker’s highlights 10 daunting tasks healthcare CEOs can’t ignore, including making risk your friend, always remaining visible and being proud of healthcare.

A lot of money for a tiny device. Expecting the CE Mark in early 2012, New Jersey-based CircuLite just raised an impressive $30 million to fund the commercialization of its Synergy circulatory support system — which the company touts as the world’s smallest implantable heart pump — and a device exemption pilot study in the U.S.

Help for the obese. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ decision that Medicare will cover screening and counseling for obesity has triggered a bit of a debate about whether physicians are prepared — or if it’s even their business — to treat obesity.