Erdosteine

The first trial in Africa of experimental combination vaccines to prevent HIV has been halted after preliminary results suggested it was not working, researchers told the International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA) this week. Eugene Ruzagira, trial director from the Uganda Virus Research Institute, said vaccinations to participants were stopped after an independent data monitoring committee concluded there was "little or no chance" of demonstrating the jabs would reduce the risk of acquiring the virus.Part of the broader PrEPVacc initiative, the trial conducted in Uganda, Tanzania and South Africa got under way in late 2020 with enrolment of 1512 healthy adults between the ages of 18 and 40 who were considered to be at high risk of infection. Led by African researchers with support from European institutions such as Imperial College London, the study was testing two different combinations of experimental HIV vaccines and was due to complete in 2024.It is also testing a new form of oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to see if it is as effective as existing drugs for HIV. That part of the trial remains ongoing.Previous studies in South Africa to evaluate RV144, the only vaccine that had shown any success in protecting against HIV, was halted in early 2020 after interim results found it was not working."We do clinical trials because we don't know the answer to questions," stated researcher Jonathan Weber, from Imperial College London, adding it was important to find out whether the combination vaccine regimens in PrEPVacc should be ruled out or warrant further development. "While we await the final results and analysis of individual products, I believe that our interim result puts this generation of putative HIV vaccines to bed," he said.