Credit: iStockphoto
BANGKOK: An experimental AIDS vaccine has for the first time cut the risk of infection in humans, but it may still fall short of requirements for an effective preventative.
The vaccine reduces the chance of being infected by a third, researchers said yesterday after a trial of 16,000 volunteers, carried out by the U.S. Army and Thailand's Ministry of Public Health.
The surprising result comes after years of fruitless attempts by the medical world to find a workable HIV vaccine, including one trial jab that apparently increased infection rates.
"Gives us hope"
"It is the first demonstration that a vaccine against HIV can protect against infection," Colonel Jerome Kim of the U.S. military HIV research program told a news conference in Bangkok via videolink.
"This is a very important scientific advance and gives us hope that a globally effective vaccine may be possible in the future," he said.
The vaccine was a combination of two older drugs that had not reduced infection on their own and the researchers said they were now studying why the two apparently worked together.
The study combined the canarypox vaccine ALVAC, manufactured by Sanofi-Aventis of France, and AIDSVAX, originally made by VaxGen Inc and now licensed to the non-profit Global Solutions for Infectious Diseases.
Researchers said the latest vaccine showed a 31.2% efficacy in reducing the risk of HIV infection. "The outcome represents a breakthrough in HIV vaccine development because for the first time ever there is evidence that HIV vaccine has preventative efficacy," the research team said in a statement.
31.2% efficacy
The vaccine was tested on volunteers - all HIV negative men and women aged from 18 to 30 - at average risk of infection in two Thai provinces near Bangkok starting in October 2003. Half received the vaccine and the rest were given a placebo. Out of the placebo recipients 74 of 8,198 became infected compared with 51 of 8,197 who got the vaccine.
The World Health Organisation and the Joint U.N. Program on HIV/AIDS congratulated the researchers for the "encouraging" results. "The study results, representing a significant scientific advance, are the first demonstration that a vaccine can prevent HIV infection in a general adult population and are of great importance," they said in a statement.
The U.N. said it may not be possible to get licensing permission for the drug at the moment based on the results, and that further studies were needed to determine if the vaccine has the same effect in other parts of the world.
Ben
MediaCurves.com recently conducted a national study among 305 viewers of a news clip which featured a new AIDS vaccine. Results found that the majority of younger Americans (67% of 18-24-year-olds and 57% of 25-34-year-olds) indicated that they would be likely to get the AIDS vaccine if it became available in the U.S. The study also revealed that 65% of respondents are confident that the AIDS vaccine will be implemented worldwide More in depth results can be seen at:
http://www.mediacurves.com/HealthCare/J7584-AIDSVaccine/Index.cfm Thanks,
Ben