AIDS Drug Test Stopped

By Charles WendoTHE AIDS vaccine trial that has been going on in Uganda since 1999 has been terminated at the end of the first phase.Researchers who conducted the experiment said they will not proceed to the second, third and fourth phases. Instead two other vaccines will soon be tested.The first vaccine code-named ALVAC 205 was developed by a French institution, Pasteur Merieux.It was tested in Uganda with the support of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, after other trials in Europe and the US.The principal investigator, Prof. Roy Mugerwa, told The New Vision that the ALVAC vaccine showed promising results but was overtaken by the new generation of vaccines. The termination of the trial at the end of phase one implies that the vaccine may have no future in HIV prevention.However, Mugerwa said it has provided useful lessons for scientists who made the newer generation vaccines.ALVAC vaccine was tested on 40 adult Ugandan volunteers. All were HIV negative and in good health condition. Each received four injections over a period of one year. The first volunteer was injected on February, 8, 1999 and by mid 2001, the injections had been completed. Periodically the scientists removed the blood of the volunteers and mixed it with HIV.The trial has provided the first indication that it may not be necessary to make different vaccines for different parts of the world. Though the vaccine was designed for HIV sub-type B which is predominant in Europe, blood from some volunteers destroyed A and D sub-types common in Uganda.Ends