A year after a Johnson & Johnson HIV vaccine failed a study, the company is again pulling the plug on a second late-stage global trial of another HIV jab that failed to prevent infections, a further setback in the quest for a vaccine against a virus known to mutate rapidly and find unique ways to evade the immune system.
“It's not the outcome we had hoped for, unfortunately,” said a spokesperson for the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a J&J partner in the trial, reports Reuters.
“The development of a safe and effective HIV vaccine has been a considerable scientific challenge, but we will learn from this study and continue forward.”
The trial involved administering two different types of a shot, which uses a cold-causing virus to deliver the genetic code of HIV, spread over four vaccination visits in a year. J&J used similar technology for its Covid-19 vaccine.
The study, which began in 2019, was conducted at more than 50 sites and included about 3 900 gay men and transgender people – groups considered vulnerable to the infection.
Another J&J partner, the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN), said the shot was being tested only on individuals who did not accept pre-exposure prophylaxis, a treatment to prevent infections. In 2021, around 650 000 people died from HIV-related causes while 1.5m people acquired the infection, according to the World Health Organisation. Various HIV vaccine candidates, including from Moderna, HVTN and NIAID are currently under trial.
While no HIV vaccine has successfully cleared trials so far, some drugs are used in high-risk groups and patients.
Reuters article – J&J to discontinue HIV vaccine trial (Open access)
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