HIV vaccine ‘holy grail’ in trial success
A HIV vaccine could be within sight after a breakthrough in a candidate’s first human trial.
Researchers reported a “robust immune response” in 393 healthy adult volunteers in Rwanda, South Africa, Thailand, Uganda and the US.
And in separate tests, vaccine HIV-1 protected monkeys against infection by a virus similar to HIV. Study leader Dan Barouch, of Harvard Medical School in the US, said: “These results represent an important milestone.”
More than 90,000 Britons have HIV, which can lead to Aids, and some 5,000 new diagnoses are made every year. A vaccine is key to tackling the global pandemic – with 37 million sufferers and 1.8 million new cases every year. Many are in South Africa, where HIV-1 will be used on 2,600 at-risk women in a second trial phase. The tests will establish the level of immune protection and if it will lead to a viable vaccine. Only four other experimental vaccines have had human trials in the past 35 years. Just one affected the immune system, lowering infection rates by 31%. But this was thought too low to be effective.