South Africa to host phase II AIDS vaccine trials
Posted on: Monday, 14 November 2005, 14:35 CST
CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - South Africa's first phase II HIV vaccine trials intended to help battle an AIDS epidemic were launched by charitable group the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) and U.S.-based Targeted Genetics Corporation.
The trials will test the safety of tgAAC09, a vaccine candidate that is based on the HIV sub-type most prevalent in southern and eastern Africa, the two groups said in a joint statement on Monday.
Sub-Saharan Africa is the region hardest hit by AIDS, with more than 25 million people estimated to be infected with HIV, the virus that leads to the disease.
South Africa has the highest caseload of HIV in the world, with about one in nine of its 45 million population carrying the virus, while in neighbouring Botswana and Swaziland prevalence is as high as 40 percent.
"We are pleased that South Africa has taken a leading role in the testing of vaccine candidates given the medical and humanitarian promise a preventative vaccine holds," said Eftyhia Vardas, a doctor at the country's Perinatal HIV Research Unit, who will coordinate the trials.
Investigators test the immune response and acquire more data on safety during second phase trials on drugs that have already been proven safe during first phase tests.
The vaccine candidate, developed by U.S.-based Targeted Genetics, will be tested on 78 volunteers at three sites in South Africa. The trial is expected to last 18 months.
IAVI, a global non-profit organization working to accelerate the development of an AIDS vaccine, estimates that around 30 preventative HIV vaccine candidates are in human trials.
Source: REUTERS
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