A potential HIV/AIDS vaccine that has shown "significant promise" among non-human primates is expected to undergo Phase II safety testing this summer, according to GeoVax Inc., an Atlanta biotechnology firm associated with Emory University. The vaccine candidate is the only one among several under development to be nearing Phase II trials by the HIV Vaccine Trials Network, which is supported by the National Institutes of Health.
A simian-human version of the GeoVax candidate protected 96 percent of at-risk rhesus monkeys for more than three years, according to lead researcher Harriet Robinson of Emory University and colleagues.
The vaccine candidate uses HIV proteins to prime the body's immune system, but it uses different production methods than a Merck HIV/AIDS vaccine that failed efficacy testing last fall, said Bob McNally, GeoVax's president and CEO.
"Now that the delivery combinations of the vaccine have been worked out," the Phase II trial will involve 150 vaccinated and 75 unvaccinated human volunteers not at risk for HIV, McNally said. Besides safety, the objective is to assess T-cell and antibody responses, he added.
If the trial is successful, the GeoVax candidate would advance to Phase III testing among a larger population of at-risk volunteers, said Mitchell Warren, executive director of the nonprofit AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition in New York. Warren called the early data "compelling" but added, "there is still much more to be done."
No HIV/AIDS vaccine candidate has prevented infection, but Robinson hopes this one can at least "prevent the development of disease and transmission." Even a partially effective vaccine would be "better than what we have now," McNally said.
05/08/08
GEORGIA: HIV Drug Tests Set for Phase 2
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution:: Bill Hendrick; Courtesy of the CDC National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention