Aids Vaccine in Sight: First Ever Success for Researchers

For the first time in the twenty six year recorded history of the dreaded disease, an AIDS vaccine made from the combination of two failed products has significantly reduced infection rates. The vaccine is a mix of Sanofi- Pasteur’s ALVAC canary pox vaccine and VaxGen’s unsuccessful HIV vaccine, AIDSVAX. The experiment, sponsored by the U.S. Government and undertaken by the Thai Ministry of Public Health, monitored a group of 16,402 volunteers over a period of three years.

The experiment

The first step was to round up HIV negative men and women in the age group of 18-30. Half of them (vaccine group) were administered the vaccine – four doses of ALVAC and two doses of AIDSVAX over six months. The remaining (control group) were given dummy doses. To prevent biased behavior, it was not disclosed who got what. Throughout the course of the three years, all were provided for equally – condoms, counseling and medical treatment for STD, and tested once every six months. Tests conducted at the end of three years revealed that 74 people were infected in the control group, and 51 were infected in the vaccine group, a number which is 31.2% lower, and hence statistically significant. Scientists are yet unsure about the exact way this vaccine works, the general theory being that while AIDSVAX stimulates the immune system to make neutralizing antibodies which resist HIV, ALVAC makes cellular immune defenses to curb infection spread from already HIV invaded cells.

Immediate response and implications

Researchers around the world have hailed the success of the experiment. The greatest achievement is hope, an attribute which has steadily declined in a field traumatized by one failed product after another for nearly thirty years. The immediate follow up to this experiment will be the study of limited quantity of left over vaccine to further augment performance. Researchers from the Thailand experiment, members of the Army and other scientists will convene in New York next week to discuss future plans.

The challenges ahead

There are a few intriguing questions scientists are yet to answer. It is not clear how long the protection from vaccination will last, and if it needs to be supplemented by regular boosters. The participants in the experiment were mostly healthy heterosexuals, and it is left to be seen if experiment results are similar for gays and drug addicts, two of the largest victim groups. Another observation is that the vaccine was largely ineffective on HIV levels once the patient is affected. So a crucial part of the experiment; to see if the vaccine could prevent already infected HIV from developing into AIDS, has clearly failed. Most of these challenges need to be overcome before the vaccine can be commercialized. However, the good news is that an experimental vaccine has been successful and a commercial vaccine is in sight. There is no denying the fact that this is giant leap in facing up to a killer disease which has consumed about 33 million lives so far and infects thousands on a daily basis.