Result of Thai AIDS vaccine trial

[Guest guest]

Dear friends,

If you haven’t heard already, you will likely hear soon that there has been

exciting news in the AIDS vaccine field. The U.S. Military HIV Research Program

and the Thai Ministry of Public Health have just announced that a prime-boost

combination of two AIDS vaccine candidates has shown partial efficacy in a phase

III efficacy trial in Thailand. The prime-boost combination appeared to be about

31% effective at preventing infection with HIV. The vaccine candidates,

developed by Sanofi Pasteur and VaxGen (now Global Solutions for Infectious

Diseases), had no effect on the viral load of individuals who became

HIV-infected after vaccination.

The outcome of protection against infection represents a significant scientific

achievement. It is the first demonstration that a candidate AIDS vaccine

provides benefit in humans. Until now, we’ve had evidence of feasibility for an

AIDS vaccine in animal models. Now, we’ve got a vaccine candidate that appears

to work in humans, albeit partially. At the very least, the trial results give

researchers a platform on which to improve and to validate animal models and

assays. This advance will likely attract new investment and creative energy to

the field of AIDS vaccine R & D.

The outcome also demonstrates the vital importance of testing AIDS vaccine

candidates in human trials. Because HIV causes AIDS only in humans, we can only

learn so much from animal models. We could not have learned what this study will

teach us any way other than through a trial, and we expect to learn a great

deal.

The sponsors of the trial, the partners who conducted it, and the many

volunteers who selflessly devoted themselves to the study are to be

congratulated on the successful completion of the trial.

According to the trial sponsors, who plan to release more comprehensive data on

October 20 at the AIDS Vaccine Conference in Paris, the future of the AIDS

vaccine combination tested in Thailand has not yet been decided. Next steps will

be discussed among policymakers, regulators, scientists, community members, and

the trial partners. More information on the trial results is available from the

U.S. Military HIV Research Program at www.hivresearch.org.

The AIDS vaccine mission has been waiting for just such a development as this:

positive data in humans from a vaccine trial. It is now the job of all of us in

this field to recommit to the mission, to learn everything possible from these

results in order to design even better vaccine candidates so that we can one day

achieve the vision of a world without AIDS.

If you have any comments or questions about this or any other matter, please be

in touch.

Sincerely yours,

Seth

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Dr. Seth Berkley

President & CEO

The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative

110 Street, 27th Floor

New York, NY 10038

P 212-847-1100 direct

P 212-847-1102 Carolina Seguin, Special Assistant

P 212-847-1111 switchboard

F 212-847-1101

http//www.iavi.org

E-Mail: <SBerkley@...>

Imagine a world without AIDS

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Forwarded by

Dr.Ashok Rau

Executive Trustee/CEO

Freedom Foundation-India, Nigeria, and Botswana

(Centers of Excellence- Substance Abuse & HIV/AIDS)

Head Office: 180, Hennur Cross, Bangalore - 560043, India

Senior Research Fellow, TheTerry Sanford Institute of Public Health,Duke

University(USA)

Visiting Faculty, Yale University (USA)

Adjunct Faculty, Drexel University College of Medicine (USA)

Phone (O) +91 80 25440134, 25449766, 25430611, (Direct) 25443114

Fax (O) +91 80 25440134

email:freedom@...

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