Sunday Times (Johannesburg) - September 4, 2005
Claire Keeton

The vaccine is designed to block the human papilloma virus (HPV), which causes genital warts and is proven to be a cause of cervical cancer.

It is also a sexually transmitted disease which increases a woman's risk of contracting HIV.

Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among South African women and the vaccine being tested has the potential to wipe it out.

The national principal investigator for the HPV trial, Dr Eftyhia Vardas of the Wits Perinatal HIV Research Unit, said: "This is an amazing vaccine ... The results of tests on women elsewhere so far have been fantastic, showing about 99% success with few side effects."

In the Baragwanath trial, the vaccine will be tested only on men, aged 16 to 24. It is also being tested at sites in Pretoria, Joburg and Durban.

Although men are obviously not at risk of cervical cancer, they will benefit from a vaccine that prevents genital warts. And so will their sexual partners.

The researchers had to make a special effort to recruit men.

"About 60% of volunteers in HIV vaccine trials generally are women but we needed men for this study," Vardas said.

At the moment, Pap smears are used to pick up cervical cancer, which can be effectively treated if detected early.

But many women in South Africa do not have access to routine Pap smears.

The team had to get permission from the Medicines Control Council to sign up adolescents for the trial.

The HPV vaccine trial has reached what is known as a Phase III efficacy trial - that is, it is in the final stages of testing before being approved for medical use by the public.

Phase I is primarily to test a vaccine's safety, while Phase II tests the strength of the immune response. Phase III involves testing large numbers of people who are at high risk of contracting a virus. The three phases of trials can take up to 10 years.

The HPV vaccine trial is being done in addition to four preventative HIV vaccine trials at Baragwanath's Perinatal Unit. By testing different HIV vaccines at the same time, researchers hope to identify the one that is most effective in the shortest possible time.

"We want to do multiple trials as fast as possible to find the best clinical vaccine candidate to put into an efficacy study," Vardas said.

Next year the unit hopes to test South Africa's own HIV vaccine, designed by the University of Cape Town and the Medical Research Council, though manufactured in the US.

A spokesman for the South African Aids Vaccine Initiative, Michelle Galloway, said it was hoped this vaccine would be ready for clinical trials by mid-2006.

"This will be the first vaccine designed by a developing country and we hope it will be tested here and overseas."

The development of the vaccine is a collaboration between academics and biotech companies, with significant international funding.

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