Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Reuters NewMedia - Tuesday November 25, 2003
James Crawford
More than three million people died from AIDS in 2003, and plans for the new tests followed large-scale trials in Thailand of another preventative AIDS vaccine that failed a late-stage clinical trial.
"There is still a lot of hard work to be done...but if this works it will be fantastic, it could spell the end of this epidemic," said Barbara Ensoli of Italian health institute ISS, head of the research project since it began in 1996.
New global estimates from the United Nations showed about 40 million people worldwide are living with HIV/AIDS, including an estimated 2.5 million children under 15 years old. About five million people were infected in 2003.
The new vaccine is based on Tat, a small protein essential for the virus replication, and aims to stop the disease spreading.
"Tat is produced extremely early upon virus entry, so this (vaccine) cripples the virus at the initial stage of the infection... So we don't speak about sterilizing immunity. We speak about controlling infection and blocking transmission," Ensoli said.
Initial tests of the Tat vaccine at three Italian clinics are expected to take about a year and will aim to ensure it is harmless to humans. Animal tests showed it had no toxic effects and blocked the development of the illness.
"If the (human) tests prove to be successful the vaccine will save millions of lives, particularly in developing countries," said Ensoli.
The U.N. AIDS report showed Sub-Saharan Africa remains the worst affected region of the world with about 3.2 million new infections and 2.3 million deaths in 2003.
Although 12 vaccine candidates are now in human trials, the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) estimates less than one percent of the 70 billion dollars spent each year on global health product research is dedicated to AIDS vaccine research.
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