Trial Of Experimental AIDS Vaccine Fails In Thailand
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U.N.Wire http://www.unwire.org/UNWire/20031114/449_10400.asp
Friday, November 14, 2003
Preliminary testing of a vaccine intended to protect people
against HIV has failed, VaxGen <http://www.vaxgen.com/> biophar-
maceuticals company said Wednesday.
VaxGen, which is based in the United States but was running a
late-stage clinical trial in Thailand, said the test failed to
meet the main goal of preventing HIV infection and the secondary
goal of slowing progression of AIDS among infected patients.
The trial tested the efficacy of the Aidsvax vaccine against
blood-borne transmission of HIV subtype E and a strain of HIV
subtype B. The 36-month trial involved more than 2,500 injecting
drug users. Of these, 106 who received at least one injection of
Aidsvax became infected, while 105 who received a placebo also
became infected.
VaxGen is the only company holding large-scale trials of an HIV
vaccine, and the failure of the test in Bangkok may mean that an
effective inoculation is years away (Los Angeles Times, Nov. 13).
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-vaxgen13nov13,1,5956866.story
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