Indigenous AIDS vaccine trials in India

[Guest guest]

THE HINDU, April,17,2003. By the staff Reporter.(CHENNAI)

The first clinical trials of a preventive AIDS vaccine developed in India will

begin by the end of the year at the National AIDS Research Institute(NARI),

Pune. Announcing this at a press conference today, representatives of the

International AIDS Vaccine Initiative(IVAI) said the first phase of the trial

will involve 40 volunteers, healthy adults with low risk for HIV infections. The

vaccine, which will counter the strain of HIV subtype C prevalent in India, has

been developed by the Indial Council for Medical Research(ICMR) in collaboration

with the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) and IVAI.

The trial will follow stadardised, codified procedures prescribed at the

international level and will go on for 12 months, extendableto 18 months from

the date of the first injection. Volunteers will be split into two groups: while

one group will be administered placebos, the other will be injected with varying

doses of the vaccine at an interval of 0, 2 and 4 months. The immune responses

will be studied over a period of 12 months and if necessary, an additonal six

months, according to Dr. Excler, medical director, IVAI.

If satisfactory immune responses are recorded in this phase, then the trial will

progress to the second and third phases of the study, when high risk groups will

be targetted for establishing 'efficacy'. In preparation, a new and independent

laboratory exlusive for HIV vaccine trial will be set up. A behavioural study is

being undertaken to determine the willingness of probable volunteers to

participate in the trial. The clinical protocol will be finalised by a team of

NARI scientists by the end of May.

Dr. Excler said the medical director. ICMR, N.K. Ganguly, has extended support

to the IVAI to set up a second clinical trial centre at the Tuberculosis

Research Centre in Chennai to test another vaccine. A committee comprising

experts will be formed to review the protfolio of potential new vaccines and

include them in trials, he added.

In this context, a state level meeting, 'Working together for an AIDS Vaccine

for India' will be held at IMAGE auditorium in the city tomorrow to interact

with representatives of civil society on the vaccine trial preparedness. The

meetings, which will be conducted in other parts of the country as well, aim at

arriving at a broad consensus on the best way to take the AIDS vaccine trials

forward in India, according to Mark Chataway, team leader, IVAI.

________________

Mathai V.D

E-mail: vdmathai@...

[Guest guest]

Dear All,

If my memory serves me correctly, the first HIV-1 vaccine going into

trials in India, under IAVI sponsorship, is an Oral HIV-1 Subtype C MVA

Prime/boost Vaccine.

The trails should provide insights for the development of a Non

Microbial Vectored Oral Liposome Based World Calde HIV-1 Vaccine I

think.

The HIV-1 vaccine design concept that shows the most promise in my

opinion.

Thanks

Creel

HIV Vaccine Research Advocate

6072 Cartier Ave

New Orleans, LA 70122

USA, Tel: (504) 282-1353

E-mail: " <SherylBuster@...>