Don't think this is VHL's but interest is coming back into the HIV vaccine area by the media again
Trial HIV vaccine is promising: scientists
Email Print Normal font Large font By Ruth Pollard Health Reporter
May 16, 2006
Advertisement
AdvertisementRESEARCHERS are looking for 100 altruistic individuals to test the effectiveness of a vaccine that could protect people from developing HIV, which has killed more than 25 million people worldwide.
In a field littered with failures, researchers say this vaccine, made from the adenovirus that causes the common cold, is the most promising to date.
The Sydney arm of the trial, being run at St Vincent's Hospital and the National Centre of HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research, aims to recruit people whose sexual behaviour places them at high risk of contracting the virus.
The 100 Sydneysiders - expected to be mostly gay men - will be part of a multi-site trial involving 3000 people in the US, Canada, South America and the Caribbean.
"'We're looking to see if this vaccine can prevent HIV infection � and this vaccine has been shown to protect animals from infection with HIV-like viruses," said Tony Kelleher, a clinical immunologist at St Vincent's Hospital.
And while the spectre of the catastrophic drug trial in a London clinic this year that left eight people in hospital hangs over the study, Dr Kelleher said the vaccine had already been given to over 1000 people and been shown to be safe.
"The safety is less of an issue here. It has now been given to well over 1500 individuals � many of those have received two or three vaccinations, not just one, and the side-effect profile looks like that of a flu vaccine."
Side effects included low grade fevers for 24 to 48 hours after injection, and redness and muscle pain at the site of the injection, he said.
"The end point of this trial is a very serious end point; [for some] it is HIV infection."
Add to My Watchlist
What is My Watchlist?
