AIDS Vaccine trials in India:President makes a point: Single vaccine may not pro

[Guest guest]

Clinical trials of AIDS vaccine held up

President makes a point: Single vaccine may not provide sufficient

protection,

Express News Service

Pune, May 26: CLINICAL trials for India's first HIV/AIDS vaccine will

have to wait a little longer. With President A P J Abdul Kalam

suggesting that a single vaccine may not provide sufficient

protection, a new strategy involving multiple vaccines has been

devised.

The partnership of National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), Indian

Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and International AIDS Vaccine

Initiative (IAVI) has introduced multiple HIV/AIDS vaccine candidates

in India as per the recommendations made by the President. The

organisations had signed a memorandum in 2000 to accelerate efforts

to develop an AIDS vaccine for use in India.

Addressing a press meet at the National AIDS Research Institute

(NARI) at Bhosari on Wednesday, Anjali Nayyar, Country Director of

IAVI, said the new strategy adopts a multiple candidate approach. The

recommended vaccine candidates are recombinant adeno-associated virus

(AAV) vaccine, Adeno 5 and SFV vaccine. All these vaccines target the

Clade C HIV virus, which is most prevalent in India.

Once these vaccines are available, the government will look at the

feasibility of holding Phase-I trial in the country, Dr Ramesh

Paranjape, officer-in-charge, NARI, told reporters. They are,

however, hopeful to commence the trials after the clearance from the

regulatory authorities. The dossier for the modified vaccinia ankara

(MVA) vaccine trials will be submitted by the end of the final

quarter of the calendar year.

Presently, IAVI and NARI are in the process of sensitising people for

human trials, who will eventually enroll to test the effectiveness of

the vaccine. Dr Sanjay Mehendale, Deputy Director, NARI, admits that

it is a challenging task to find volunteers to participate in the

trial. However, all the systems are in place, he said.

According to Jean-Louis Excler, Medical Director of IAVI, there are

plans to develop two sites as centres of excellence —— one at NARI

where the laboratory for conducting trials is ready and the other at

the Tuberculosis Research Centre in Chennai.

Nayyar also clarified that apart from the MVA vaccine that counters

the strain of HIV subtype C, the multi-generic recombinant AIDS

vaccine will also be tested. They are also in the process of

finalising the consent form, compensation and standard of care and

treatment for the volunteers for the trials.

A total of 10,000 volunteers have participated worldwide in the

HIV/AIDS vaccine trials, Excler said. The results for the first phase

of vaccines tested worldwide were found to be safe in humans, Excler

said. However, the DNA vaccines are not very promising, he said.

Apart from testing the efficacy of the combination vaccine in India,

the vaccine trials will also be held in other countries like East

Africa, Excler added.

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