Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1998. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Bangkok Post - Jan 21, 1998
Aphaluck Bhatiasevi
The trials of the Chiron HIV Thai E gp 120/MF 59 vaccine were announced yesterday by Army chief Chettha Thanajaro.
Although there have been other vaccine trials in Thailand they all involved the B-strain of HIV common among intravenous drug users, particularly in the West. The E-strain is mostly sexually transmitted and is predominantly found in Thailand and its neighbouring countries. Sufferers develop Aids faster and have more serious symptoms.
In the trials the vaccine alone will be administered to volunteers in three concentrations and combined with the American B-strain in two concentrations.
Gen Chettha said there was no chance of the volunteers being infected with HIV since the vaccine had been genetically engineered in the laboratory to make the recombinant protein rgp 120 look like the surface protein of HIV.
Rgp has the same characteristics as gp 120 found in Aids.
The first two phases of the trial will evaluate the safety of the vaccine and will involve some 368 volunteers at four sites - Phramongkutklao Army Medical Centre, Chiang Mai University's Research Institute of Health Sciences (Rihes), Mahidol University's Faculty of Tropical Medicine and Siriraj Hospital.
Hundreds have applied to take part in the trials and they will now be screened. Those involved must be aged 20-60, not be pregnant, and be physically and mentally fit and not have HIV/Aids.
The first phase involves 12 volunteers. They receive two doses of the vaccine at the beginning of the trial and a third after six months, said Dr Prasert Thongcharoen of Siriraj Hospital.
The second phase, to measure the immune response to the vaccine, involves 92 volunteers at each site. Volunteers will be given three doses at the beginning followed by at least seven doses over a one-year period.
The trial programme is expected to take more than a year and if it appears successful there will be a third phase involving thousands of volunteers.
The trial is jointly being carried out by the Thai Armed Forces Institute of Medical Sciences (Afrims), the US Component of Afrims - the Walter Reed Army Institute of Medical Research, the Vaccine Testing Centre of Mahidol University's Faculty of Tropical Medicine, the Faculty of Medicine at Siriraj Hospital, RIHES, and the US-based Chiron Vaccines company.
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BP980103
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