Sweden ? One of the scientists sharing the Nobel Prize in medicine for discovering HIV said Saturday he believes there will be a therapeutic vaccine to treat the virus within five years.

Luc Montagnier told reporters in Sweden that he believed it was “a matter of 4 to 5 years” before a therapeutic vaccine to treat HIV infection is developed. He did not elaborate as to why he believed scientists were close.

Scientists have developed lifesaving drugs that can inhibit the disease, but there is no vaccine to prevent or treat HIV infection.