Anti-AIDS vaccine Trial in Indian lab a success

Anti-AIDS vaccine Trial in Indian lab a success

India's HIV vaccine programme got a major boost with scientists of the Tuberculosis Research Centre (TRC) here reporting significant progress in the first phase of clinical trials for a vaccine to prevent AIDS.

Preliminary results of phase one trial have successfully proved the vaccine's safety and its ability to stimulate immune response (that might provide protection against infection), the centre's head told Times of India.

Confirming the development, TRC director V D Ramanathan said: "The trial was to check the vaccine’s safety and also whether it fulfilled the secondary objective of stimulating immune response. We will announce the results to the world soon after we have the complete analysis of the data."

TRC is affiliated to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), which, along with National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) and the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), has spearheaded the vaccine trial in India.

"The Phase I trial of an MVA-based AIDS vaccine candidate (TBC - M4) was conducted at the TRC in Chennai. The preliminary results of the trial showed that the vaccine candidate was generally safe and well tolerated and the frequency of immune responses by volunteers after three injections was good. The phase I trial is over and the final data is under analysis," said Dr Sonali Kochar, Medical Director, IAVI India.

Source: Times of India