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.

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci's Statement for National Gay Men's HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

Last Sunday, September 27, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, National Institutes of Health, released a statement to acknowledge National Gay Men's HIV/AIDS Awareness Day and research issues impacting gay men. To read the entire statement, visit the NIAID website.

Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., Director of NIAID

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Gay and bisexual men have been active participants in HIV/AIDS research, including that funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health. A good example is the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS), the longest U.S. study of people with HIV/AIDS and one of the most rigorous and productive epidemiologic HIV/AIDS studies in history. Gay and bisexual men also have participated in NIAID clinical trials of antiretroviral drugs that were essential to developing life-saving treatments now available to millions of people with HIV.

“Currently, gay and bisexual men are participating in NIAID’s first late-phase trial of a promising new HIV prevention method called pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP. The idea behind PrEP is that HIV-negative people at high risk of becoming infected with the virus could take antiretroviral medications that may protect them from infection.

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.

H1N1 Flu and HIV Webinar Highlights

By Miguel Gomez

Nearly 850 participants joined AIDS.gov online and/or via conference call last week to hear from leading experts and local grantees about H1N1 Preparedness and HIV. On the webinar we heard from our Federal colleagues, CDC’s Dr. John Brooks, and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’ Dr. Elizabeth Higgs, along with Ryan White grantees such as Iliana Gilliland from the AIDS Foundation of Chicago , Paul Stabile of The William F. Ryan Community Health Center in New York City, and Dr. Shannon Hader and Beverly Pritchett from the DC Department of Health.

H1N1 Preparedness and HIV Webinar

Nearly 850 HIV federal colleagues staff and grantees participated in a webinar on Wednesday, September2, “H1N1 Preparedness & HIV” for the HIV community.

Dr. Elizabeth Higgs, Deputy Branch Chief of the Collaborative Clinical Research Branch at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, spoke about their work around H1N1 and HIV. She told the participants that “the job of NIH is to help provide the data that comes from research to support pandemic preparedness. At NIAID we’ve been partnering with colleagues in HHS and focusing on three broad areas — vaccines, better understanding or pathogenesis of the illness, and trying to think through research for novel antiviral approaches.”