High-tech vaccine trial starts in uk
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On 4 April, the first volunteer in a trial received a new HIV vaccine specifically aimed at Africa, at St Mary's hospital in London. The vaccine, devised by Professor Andrew MacMichael of Oxford, combines two vaccines that have already been given separately to volunteers in both Oxford and Nairobi, Kenya. It uses a 'prime' of HIV DNA followed several weeks later by a 'boost' of DNA contained in the shell of a harmless virus. This approach stimulates a broader immune response. 120 'low-risk' HIV negative volunteers are sought, but the trial investigator, Dr Nicky Mackie, says she has already had 75
Andrew McMichael: vaccine creator
enquiries. Trials will also start in Kenya by the end of this year. Dr Seth Berkley, director of the International Aids Vaccine Initiative, said: "If the results are as good in this larger-scale trial, we will fast-track into phase III. We are forecasting two and a half years."
Who's the resistance targeting?
Studies from various parts of the world continue to report contradictory
findings on whether more or fewer people are catching drug-resistant HIV.
The bad news: a study of San Francisco patients diagnosed in early HIV
infection found that the proportion with HIV resistant to at least one
drug increased from one in six in July 1996 to more than one in four -
27.6 per cent - in July 2001. Resistance to
non-nucleoside drugs increased from zero to 17 per cent. Transmission of HIV resistant to all three classes was still very rare, with only one case
