New hope for HIV treatment vaccine

Positive results of a landmark clinical trial conducted by UNSW researchers have identified an Australian-developed HIV treatment vaccine as one of the most promising of its kind. The trial results indicate that the vaccine has the potential to change the future management of HIV.

UNSW Professor David Cooper, director of the National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research (NCHECR), which conducted the trial, presented the results of clinical testing of the vaccine, VIR201, at a conference in San Francisco.

"On the clinical evidence now available, VIR201 is one of the most promising treatment vaccines currently under development," Professor Cooper said.

Twenty weeks after a booster injection, patients on VIR201 appeared to have a lower HIV level compared to the participants who received a placebo.

"Controlling the level of virus is fundamental for the management of HIV. If we are able to keep the viral load low, patients will not develop AIDS and can live long and relatively healthy, normal lives," he said.

Rather than fight the virus itself, like current antiretroviral drugs, VIR201 in animal studies stimulates the immune system to produce a specific response to the HIV virus. VIR201 is a treatment vaccine developed and manufactured by Australian biotechnology company Virax Holdings.

In the NCHECR trial, three doses of the treatment were shown to be safe for patients whose viral load was controlled by highly active antiretroviral therapy. No adverse side-effects were found. Twelve months after they first took part in the safety study, participants were invited to join an extension study. After receiving a booster (the fourth dose), 25 participants were able to discontinue their antiretroviral therapy.

HIV/AIDS remains a serious epidemic and is the world's fourth largest killer. More than 13,000 people have HIV/AIDS in Australia, and an estimated 40 million people live with the virus around the world. The NCHECR, a UNSW Research Centre, was established by the Federal Government in 1986 to co-ordinate national surveillance programs and clinical trials related to HIV/AIDS.

Item provided courtesy of University of New South Wales