- The world's biggest HIV vaccine trial has been slammed
by AIDS experts.
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- Researchers from some of America's top universities have
suggested the trial, involving 16,000 people in Thailand, is a waste of
time.
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- Writing in Science, they said there was no evidence the
experimental vaccine will protect people against HIV.
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- However, the drugs companies involved and the US government,
which funds the trial, have rejected the claims saying they believe it
is worthwhile.
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- Final Stages
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- The $119m Thai study started last year and is expected
to run for five years.
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- The experimental vaccine is made up of a harmless bird
virus which doesn't infect humans and a protein found on the surface of
the Aids virus called gp120.
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- The bird virus is used to carry Aids genes into the body.
The idea is that their immune system will recognise and attack HIV should
they be infected.
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- However, the AIDS experts - from Harvard, UCLA, Cornell
University and 15 other respected institutions - say there is no "persuasive
data" to suggest that it will work.
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- They said other trials in Thailand and the US showed
that the gp120 element of vaccine does not work.
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- "The gp120 component has now been proven in phase
III trials in the United States and Thailand to be completely incapable
of preventing or ameliorating HIV-1 infection," they wrote.
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- "We seriously question whether it is sensible now
to conduct a third trial that, in our opinion, is no more likely to generate
a meaningful level of protection against infection or disease."
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- The experts said continuing with the trial risks damaging
public confidence in efforts to find a vaccine for HIV.
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- The US government agencies funding the trial said they
"strongly disagree with the authors' opinions".
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- They said the results from early trials "justified
conducting an efficacy evaluation".
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- Aventis Pasteur, one of the drug companies involved,
said it still backed the trial.
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- "If I wasn't confident, I wouldn't support it,"
Dr Jim Tartaglia, its HIV programme director, told BBC News Online.
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- "We can't be afraid of failing. We have to learn
the most from each trial. I know we are going to learn from this trial."
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- © BBC MMIV
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- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3399193.stm
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