Jump to content
RemedySpot.com

NARI opens second AIDS vaccine trial centre in Chennai

Rate this topic


Guest guest

Recommended Posts

Guest guest

NARI touch to second AIDS vaccine trial centre in Chennai

TB Research Centre waits for Genetic Engineering Approval Committee

nod to launch trials this Oct by ANURADHA MASCARENHAS

Posted online: Monday, June 27, 2005 at 0154 hours IST

PUNE, JUNE 26: In February, Pune-based National AIDS Research

Institute (NARI) embarked upon the nation's first-ever clinical

trial on humans for an AIDS vaccine. But since the need is to test

several such vaccines, another centre of excellence has been

developed in Chennai where trials for a second AIDS vaccine is to be

launched by the end of the year.

The Tuberculosis Research Centre (TRC) in Chennai is now getting

ready for the Q4, 2005 trials and work is on in close coordination

with NARI, Pune. ``We have shared our experiences with TRC

scientists and helped in setting up the laboratory apart from

providing help on community preparedness,'' said Dr R S Paranjape,

officer-in-charge, NARI.

The TRC is now awaiting official communication from the Genetic

Engineering Approval Committee to launch the trials, said Deputy

Director V D Ramanathan in an exclusive interaction with Newsline

from Chennai.

In December 2000, the Government of India through the Ministry of

Health and Family Welfare entered into an MoU with the International

AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) to develop an AIDS vaccine specific

to the virus strains prevalent in the country. The tripartite

agreement is between the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO),

the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and IAVI.

Since several vaccines need to be tested as quickly as possible —

parallely rather than sequentially — it was decided to set up two

centres of excellence for AIDS vaccine clinical evaluation. While

one centre is at NARI in Pune where the first Phase I clinical

trials with the AAV-based AIDS vaccine (tgAAC09) is under way, the

centre at Chennai will test another vaccine candidate, Modified

Vaccinia Ankara (MVA).

MVA is a highly attenuated (weakened) form of the vaccinia virus. It

is used as a vector for six Indian HIV-1 subtype C genes. These

genes were identified from recent seroconverters in India in

collaboration with scientists at NARI, Pune and from consensus

sequences of the Indian HIV-1 subtype C strain from an international

gene database.

After TRC gets the nod from the Genetic Engineering Approval

Committee, it will embark on the crucial and painstaking process of

recruiting potential participants. Like in the first trials at NARI,

volunteers will be recruited after a thorough community interaction

process and careful individual screening.

http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=73399

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...