HVTN 702 is part of a larger HIV vaccine research endeavor led by the Pox-Protein Public-Private Partnership, or P5 -- a diverse group of public and private organizations working to build on the RV144 trial. P5 members include NIAID, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the South African Medical Research Council, which funded HVTN 702; the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN), headquartered at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, which conducted HVTN 702; Sanofi Pasteur and GSK, which provided study materials; and the U.S. Military HIV Research Program.

According to Balloux, the variant could have evolved during a "chronic infection of an immunocompromised person, possibly in an untreated HIV/AIDS patient"