Scientists will soon begin test trials of India’s first AIDS vaccine at National AIDS Research Centre (NARI) in Pune. The vaccine, Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA), that would counter the strain of HIV sub-type C — the one most prevalent in India — proposed by the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR). This was announced at a press conference held by the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI).‘‘We will involve 40 volunteers — all healthy men and women in the age group of 15 and 50 — for the trial. The vector-based vaccine will be administered thrice a year to the volunteers. The immunisation schedule would be 0, 4 and 6th month,’’ said Jean-Louis Excler, Medical Director, IAVI.Every volunteer will be monitored for 12 months to identify toxicity and immunogenicity, if any. If a person shows symptoms of immunogenicity, he/she would be monitored for six more months, he added.At present, the vaccine is in the final stages of its trial on animals. ‘‘We are confident that it would qualify the animal trials. “We will soon seek permission from the Drugs Controller General, ethical committee and get set for the phase I of the human trials,’’ Excler said. These trials follow a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, ICMR and IAVI in December 2000.
