A promising new HIV vaccine that has been in development for over 15 years has begun human trials which commenced on 1 October 2015, after extensive testing on primates.
The new vaccine denoted as the Full-Length Single Chain (FLSC), has been developed by the Institute of Human Virology (IHV) at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, the same group of scientists that initially discovered that the HIV virus caused AIDS.
Dr. Robert Gallo, who has helped develop the vaccine and also invented the HIV blood test said the HIV/AIDS vaccine candidate is designed to bind to the virus at the moment of infection, when many of the different strains of HIV found around the world can be neutralised.
“We believe this mechanism is a major prerequisite for an effective HIV preventive vaccine,” Dr Gallo explained.
“While we still have more important basic research to do to crack the antibody protection challenge, this first step is an important one for us to learn how people (rather than test animals) respond.”
Approximately 60 people are expected to assist in the first trial which aims to assess the safety and immune responses of the new vaccine.
Last Updated on Oct 15, 2015
The news team for Gay Nation love tips from our readers. Got tips or a news story that you would like published? Go here to tell us something.
Visit the Gay Nation store Now
