A new HIV vaccine has shown remarkably good results. Its developers are now turning to the mRNA technology that the biotechnology company Moderna is using for its Covid vaccine to hopefully get their HIV sting across the finish line.
The new vaccine was developed by the nonprofit medicine developer International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) and the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California.
They announced the results of a first-phase clinical trial in early February, but the news only started leaning this week after a viral tweet (no pun) from the vaccine specialist, dr. Ayoade Alakija.
“WOW 😳 New HIV vaccine with a 97% antibody response rate in phase I human trials. It is the most effective HIV vaccine to date. It is based on Moderna’s COVID vaccine. COVID technological acceleration could change Rx for cancer and HIV in the future. ”
WOW 😳 New HIV vaccine with an antibody response rate of 97% in phase I human trials. It is the most effective HIV vaccine to date. It is based on Moderna’s COVID vaccine. COVID technological acceleration could change Rx for cancer and HIV in the future. https://t.co/3Nl0UJj6xW
– Dr. Ayoade Alakija (@yodifiji) 4 April 2021
It should be emphasized that this is only the first phase of human trials, involving only 48 participants. However, this does not stop people from getting excited about the impressive result, and the fact that this particular vaccine follows a new approach.
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It was very difficult to produce a vaccine against HIV because there are many strains of the virus that change rapidly.
This new vaccine has been shown to be a precursor to HIV antibodies in 97% of subjects. Instead of producing a specific antibody against an HIV strain, it stimulates specialized blood proteins that can attach to the nails on HIV viruses. This could theoretically prevent them from entering the human cells.
This is similar to the mRNA technology used by Moderna, which stimulates cells to naturally produce proteins that can prevent viruses from catching on.
“This study shows evidence of principle for a new vaccine concept for HIV, a concept that can also be applied to other pathogens,” said William Schief, IAVI.
IAVI will have next partnership with Moderna to take advantage of the specific mRNA technology that the latter used to develop its Covid vaccine. They think it could significantly accelerate the pace of its own development of HIV vaccine.
They also hope that the technology can be developed against other diseases, such as hepatitis C, malaria – or even some forms of cancer, if successful against a fast-mutating virus such as HIV.
“This is a very innovative approach to the development of a vaccine that has not been done before,” said Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine and infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, told ABC.
mRNA vaccine technology did not appear overnight last year. It is built on work that has been done slowly over the past three decades. However, the Covid pandemic caused a rapid acceleration in research, leading to the arrival of the vaccines that are now being rolled out around the world.
Although this latest news about a possible HIV vaccine is still at an early stage, it is hopeful and remarkable. As author David Z. Morris notes in a thoughtful piece in Forbes, it also indicates what miracles can be achieved if governments decide to raise large sums of money on medical research.
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