Trial of groundbreaking HIV vaccine halted in Africa
HIV
Africa's first trial of two combination vaccines for HIV has been halted after researchers concluded that the drug was not working.
The drug
The vaccines as per the Guardian were under testing andsubjects included 1,500 people from Uganda, Tanzania and South Africa, aged between 18 and 40.
Trial of the vaccines was part of a PrEPVacc study — an African-led, European-supported HIV prevention study.It began in December 2020 but was stopped last month after an interim review of the progress.
"Vaccinations to PrEPVacc trial participants have been stopped because an analysis of the data collected so far by our independent data-monitoring committee has led them to conclude that there is little or no chance of demonstrating that the vaccines we are testing are reducing the risk of acquiring HIV," said the trial director from the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) and assistant professor of epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Dr Eugene Ruzagira.
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What was so special about the trial?
For the first time, the trial combined the evaluation of experimental HIV vaccines and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).
Even as the trial of the vaccines was stopped, one for the PrEP pill will continue.
Funded with a €15 million ($16.18 million) grant from the EU's European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership, the PrEPVacc trials tested two different combinations of HIV. This was done to see if either could prevent infection in populationsparticularly at risk of infection.
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"We do clinical trials because we don’t know the answer to questions. It was important to find out whether the combination vaccine regimens in PrEPVacc, developed over 20 years, should be ruled out or further developed for preventing HIV," said Proffesor Jonathan Weber, who works with Imperial College London, one of the trial's sponsors.
For Africa, where more than 25 million people live with HIV, an effective vaccine against the infection was "a critical goal," said Prof Pontiano Kaleebu, PrEPVacc’s chief investigator at UVRI.
"It is a goal that must have even greater urgency now that no HIV vaccines are being trialled for efficacy anywhere in the world," he added, as quoted by The Guardian.
(With inputs from agencies)
