Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Reuters NewMedia - Thursday November 29, 2001

If Chinese drug authorities approve the tests on the serum, developed at the Chinese Academy of Preventative Medicine together with the University of Regensburg in Germany, they would be completed in five to eight years, said Shao Yiming, the lead scientist on the project.

"We should be ready to submit it for review in another half a year," Shao told Reuters. "The review would be wholly scientific."

He said the vaccine candidate is aimed at fighting HIV/AIDS in China, where reported infections of HIV -- the virus that can cause AIDS -- surged 67.4 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2001 to 3,541 cases.

"The virus spreading in China takes different forms from elsewhere and our vaccine adjusts for that," said Shao.

He said his team's work used the principles behind a vaccine developed in China 20 years ago to fight a virus affecting horses.

"The protein structure of HIV/AIDS is similar to that virus," he said. The estimated cost would be held to 100 yuan ($12), an affordable price for most Chinese, he said.

"Hepatitis B vaccine only costs 20 yuan here, so our estimate is based on that," Shao said.

The Chinese government and the European Union had invested three million yuan and two million Euros into the project, which dates back to 1993, said Shao. "The government has consistently attached importance to AIDS," said Shao. "But you could say there has been growing domestic media attention this year." The United Nations estimates China has about one million HIV carriers. Chinese health officials put the figure at 600,000, but there were still only 28,133 HIV cases officially registered by the end of September this year.

China has taken steps to break its silence on AIDS this year. Health Minister Zhang Wenkang vowed to curb the spread of the disease at China's first AIDS conference earlier this month, although the meeting was short on initiatives. China is a late-comer to the race to find a vaccine, which already has produced more than 90 candidates now being tested on humans in the hope of halting a worldwide epidemic that has killed 22 million people and infected 36 million others.

"We are behind, but we believe in our own characteristics and design," said Shao. "It's definitely worth a try."

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