Renewed Hope for an HIV Vaccine

By Dr. Carl W. Dieffenbach

Carl W. Dieffenbach, Ph.D

In late September, the U.S. federal government announced news on HIV vaccine research that sparked interest around the world. A trial called RV144, or the Thai HIV vaccine clinical trial , showed that the experimental vaccine regimen was safe and about 31 percent effective in preventing HIV infection. Although the vaccine regimen had a very modest effect (typical vaccines for other disease and conditions provide about 80-90 percent protection), it is the first HIV vaccine to demonstrate any ability to reduce the risk of HIV infection in people. Since the discovery of HIV, making a vaccine has been a major scientific goal of AIDS researchers. Until now, the field has been paved with setbacks and disappointments including two trials that were stopped in 2007 due to safety concerns. This new result reminds us that science is about finding answers and to do this, we must continue to conduct research.

HIV Vaccine Regimen Demonstrates Modest Preventive Effect in Thailand Clinical Study

By Kathy Stover, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, NIH

In an encouraging development, an investigational vaccine regimen has been shown to be well-tolerated and to have a modest effect in preventing HIV infection in a clinical trial involving more than 16,000 adult participants in Thailand. Following a final analysis of the trial data, the Surgeon General of the U.S. Army, the trial sponsor, announced today that the prime-boost investigational vaccine regimen was safe and 31 percent effective in preventing HIV infection.

“These new findings represent an important step forward in HIV vaccine research,” says Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the NIH, which provided major funding and other support for the study. “For the first time, an investigational HIV vaccine has demonstrated some ability to prevent HIV infection among vaccinated individuals. Additional research is needed to better understand how this vaccine regimen reduced the risk of HIV infection, but certainly this is an encouraging advance for the HIV vaccine field.”

To learn more, read the full press release and www.hivresearch.org for more information about the Thai Phase III HIV vaccine trial.