Moderna announced last week that the first participants in a Phase 1 clinical trial of an experimental HIV vaccine have been vaccinated.
The trial, titled IAVI G002, is being conducted in partnership with the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), a non-profit scientific research organization.
The partnership is testing a vaccine that delivers HIV-specific antigens to the body with the aim of inducing an immune response. These antigens were initially developed by researchers at IAVI and Scripps Research, a non-profit medical research organization, led by Dr. William Schief.
In a “proof-of-concept” trial last year, the research team found that HIV antigens produced the desired immune response in 97% of participants.
THE The current study builds on the previous one, testing the primary version of the vaccine as well as a booster version, employing Moderna’s mRNA (or messenger RNA) technology, which was previously used to create a successful COVID-19 vaccine.
“We are extremely excited to move forward in this new direction in HIV vaccine design with Moderna’s mRNA platform. The search for an HIV vaccine has been a long and challenging one, and having new immunogen tools and platforms could be the key to making rapid progress towards an effective and urgently needed vaccine,” said Mark Feinberg, President and CEO of IAVI, in a Moderna press release.
The new trial, funded in part by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, will follow 56 HIV-negative adult participants, with the aim of studying both the safety and efficacy of the vaccine. Among the volunteers, 48 will receive at least one dose of the primary vaccine. Of these, 32 will also receive reinforcement. The remaining eight will receive only the booster vaccine.
The trial includes participants from four sites: George Washington University School of Medicine, Hope Clinic of Emory Vaccine Center, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.
Source: CNN Brasil
