Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1998. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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United Press International; Saturday January 31 4:06 PM EST
Members of the International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care, the organization behind the campaign, are planning a strategy meeting Sunday in Chicago.
A group spokesman tells the Chicago Tribune that three pharmaceutical firms and a medical company have agreed to provide drugs and testing for the first volunteers, if needed.
Group members first announced their plans to serve as human guinea pigs for the treatment last fall, although human clinical trials are still a ways off. The vaccine would involve a live but weakened strain of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The Food and Drug Administration is reviewing the treatment.
Critics have called the testing plan reckless, although the volunteers don't believe the vaccine will hurt them. The volunteers, a quarter of whom are physicians, say the urgency of the AIDS crisis calls for unusual measures. Still, the contingency plans with the drugmakers are the group's first public acknowledgement of the risks involved with their initiative.
Group spokesman and volunteer Jose Zuniga said the vaccine trial would begin with five volunteers who are fully informed of the risks. They would take the vaccine and be monitored for six to nine months.
If all goes well and the participants show no signs of contracting AIDS, additional volunteers would be vaccinated in six-month intervals.
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