Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2000. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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The New Vision (Uganda) - Saturday, May 20, 2000
Researchers at the US Institute of Human Virology (IHV), founded by one of the scientists who discovered HIV, are to work with researchers from Uganda to design the vaccine.
The President of IAVI, Dr. Seth Berkley, said Ugandan scientists would go to the IHV and work on the vaccine from the beginning, and help design clinical trials in Uganda. He said the vaccine, expected to cost less than a dollar per dose, would be ready for testing in people late next year.
Prof. John Rwomushana, Uganda AIDS Commission senior programme officer, yesterday said, "I am aware but I am not fully updated. I would need to get more details," he said in a phone interview.
The vaccine, based on the type of HIV found in East Africa, is already being tested in its injectable form. But the scientists wanted to make the oral form, which they say would be cheaper.
"Theoretically, this could be 10 cents or a nickel (five cents) a dose - really cheap," Bertley said in a telephone interview. "It could be a dollar a dose, but this technology is not a $100-a-dose technology," he said.
The vaccine is based on research by Andrew McMichael and colleagues at Oxford University in Britain on a group of Kenyan prostitutes who did not seem to become infected with HIV despite their high-risk sexual behaviour.
The inactivated bacteria will be used as missiles to carry the vaccine material from the gut into the blood stream, provoking immunity to HIV.
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