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Volunteers all set for HIV/AIDS vaccine trials
Jonathan Ancer. 04 November 2003. The Star. Republished courtesy of Independent Newspapers (Pty) Ltd.
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South African volunteers will roll up their sleeves this week and make HIV/AIDS history.
A group of 24 volunteers will take part in human clinical trials aimed at developing an HIV/AIDS vaccine, the South African AIDS Vaccine Initiative (SAAVI) announced on Monday.
"This is our best hope in eradicating HIV/AIDS from the globe," said SAAVI director Dr Tim Tucker.
"In the next 10 years we hope to develop an affordable and effective HIV/AIDS vaccine." A total of 48 participants will be involved in the first phase of the three-phase trials - 24 in South Africa and 24 in the United States.
Dr Glenda Gray, national principal director of the HIV Vaccine Trial Network, explained that the first phase would assess the safety of the vaccine and measure the immune system response it generated.
The vaccine being tested is the AlphaVax replicon Vector, which utilises parts of a weakened strain of the Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus and a gene from a South African strain of HIV to deliver the vaccine to the immune system.
The trials will take place at Chris Hani-Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto and the SAAVI HIV vaccine research unit in Durban.
This is one of two candidate vaccines approved for testing by the Medicines Control Council. Trials for the second vaccine are likely to begin in the next few weeks.
Dr Andrew Robinson, of the SAAVI HIV vaccine research unit in Durban, said a stringent process had been followed to recruit volunteers. He emphasised that there was no possibility that the vaccine could cause HIV infection.
The SAAVI was established by the government and Eskom in 1999 to co-ordinate the research, development and testing of HIV/AIDS vaccines in the country. |
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