Researchers launch 2 studies in Africa on new HIV vaccine

Researchers announced the launch of two big studies in Africa yesterday to test a new HIV vaccine and a long-acting injectable drug, fuelling hopes for better ways to protect against the virus that causes AIDS.
The start of the three-year vaccine trial involving 2,600 women in southern Africa means that for the first time in more than a decade there are now two big HIV vaccine clinical trials taking place at the same time.
The new study is testing a two-vaccine combination developed by Johnson and Johnson (J&J) with the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The first vaccine, also backed by NIH, began a trial last November.
At the same time, GlaxoSmithKline’s majority-owned ViiV Healthcare unit is starting another study enrolling 3,200 women in sub-Saharan Africa to evaluate the benefit of giving injections every two months of its experimental drug cabotegravir.
The ViiV initiative, which is expected to run until May 2022, also has funding from the NIH and the Gates Foundation.
ViiV is also running another large study with its long-acting injection in HIV-uninfected men and transgender women who have sex with men.
That study started in December 2016. (Reuters/NAN)