Small Phase I Trial Shows HIV Vaccine Candidate Is Most Powerful To Date

Researchers at the Spanish Superior Scientific Research Council (CSIC) have successfully completed a small Phase I human clinical trial of an HIV vaccine candidate that granted 90 percent of 30 study participants an immunological response against the virus, Gizmag reports. "The MVA-B vaccine draws on the natural capabilities of the human immune system and 'has proven to be as powerful as any other vaccine currently being studied, or even more,' says Mariano Esteban, head researcher from CSIC's National Biotech Centre," the magazine writes (Borgobello, 9/28).

"If bigger clinical trials are as successful, the virus ... would no longer cause a disease and be much less contagious," the Daily Mail notes (Allen, 9/29). While the treatment provoked a response in most of the 30 volunteers, "it's still too soon [to know] if the resulting defense would be effective against an actual infection," according to Estaban, Gizmodo writes, adding, "The team will now start another Phase I trial, injecting the vaccine in HIV-infected people. The objective of this trial is to test the therapeutic effect of the vaccine in these patients" (Diaz, 9/28).