Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Bangkok Post - Friday November 14, 2003
Aphaluck Bhatiasevi
The study was conducted among 2,546 injecting drug users visiting the city administration's rehabilitation clinics between 1999-2003.
The failure of this single candidate vaccine trial would not affect the current phase III trial carried out by the Public Health Ministry in Rayong and Chon Buri, however, said Disease Control Department chief Charal Trinvuthiphong.
Results of the Bangkok study were analysed by scientists from the Bangkok Vaccine Evaluation Group, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Statistical Centre for HIV/Aids Research and Prevention of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre, and VaxGen.
The results were reviewed by the CDC and the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, both of which are part of the US Department of Health and Human Services.
"During the trial, 105 volunteers who received placebos became infected with HIV; 106 volunteers who received at least one injection of AidsVax B/E became infected. The annualised infection rate in placebo and vaccine recipients was 3.1%", said VaxGen.
The candidate vaccine was not effective in preventing HIV or slowing the progress of the disease among those who received the vaccine but later became infected with HIV.
Kachit Choopanya, the principal investigator of the trial, said even though the candidate vaccine was not a success, the process involved in the trial helped Thailand strengthen research skills.
"The outcome of this trial is one more reminder of how difficult it is to combat HIV, and how important it is for the international public health community to redouble the effort to develop an effective vaccine," said VaxGen president Donald Francis.
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