The PrEPVacc HIV-prevention study of experimental vaccine regimens and a new form of oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) running in east and southern Africa among 1 500 participants has stopped further vaccinations, saying there was little chance of the phase two trial demonstrating vaccine efficacy.
“While this is not what the study team was looking for, these results underscore the continued importance of finding a vaccine to prevent HIV,” said Dr Larry Corey, a virologist and principal investigator of HIV Vaccine Trials Network’s (HVTN) Leadership and Operations Centre, based at the Fred Hutch Cancer Centre in the USA.
HVTN is the world’s largest publicly funded international collaboration involved in the evaluation of jabs to prevent HIV/Aids, funded primarily by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the US National Institutes of Health.
Corey said the scientists and team should be commended for running an excellent study “which, even if the results are not those hoped for, move the field forward with a definitive result”.
Professor Glenda Gray, president and CEO of the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC), said: “The search for an effective HIV vaccine remains critical …there is an urgent need to continue to invest in biomedical interventions that can ultimately control HIV at a population level.
“When people at risk… are acquiring HIV at more than 4% per year despite these efforts, we must question our current ability to achieve HIV pandemic control with the modalities currently available.”
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Will African-led trial be last roll of the dice for HIV vaccine?
HIV game-change with SAHPRA approval and vaccine trial breakthrough
First-in-human clinical trial confirms new HIV vaccine approach