Work on new HIV vaccine suspended

Scientists have suspended work on developing an HIV vaccine. Vaccine combinations have failed to demonstrate efficacy in clinical trials.

Although there are drugs that reduce the risk of HIV infection and treatments to control the virus and prevent the development of AIDS, a deadly immune disease that occurs when HIV is left untreated, experts say an HIV vaccine would be an important tool in the fight against AIDS as a public health threat.

The trial, conducted by African researchers and supported by various European institutions such as Imperial College London, tested two different combinations of experimental HIV vaccines.

The PrEPVacc trial was conducted across Uganda, Tanzania and South Africa, involving 1,512 healthy people aged 18 to 40 who were at high risk of HIV infection. Subjects received one of two combinations: DNA-HIV-PT123 in combination with AIDSVAX B/E or DNA-HIV-PT123 along with CN54gp140. The trial began in December 2020 and was scheduled to end in 2024. This was the only HIV vaccine trial currently underway in the world. The HIV Prevention Combination Experimental Vaccine Study was terminated early because preliminary results did not demonstrate efficacy.

Scientists are continuing efforts to find an effective vaccine against the virus, which has so far claimed about 40 million lives worldwide. Another 39 million are living with HIV, most of them in Africa.