HIV/AIDS Vaccine Trial in Entebbe, Uganda
Cooperation between the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI), the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) and Targeted Genetics
Targeted Genetics Corporation, The Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI), and the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) announced the start of a Phase II clinical trial in Uganda to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of tgAAC09, a preventive HIV/AIDS vaccine. This is the second IAVI-sponsored HIV vaccine trial to be conducted in Uganda.
The trial will be conducted at the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) in Entebbe, Uganda with Dr. Pontiano Kaleebu acting as the Principal Investigator. Parallel trials are currently underway at three sites in South Africa. There are also plans to evaluate the vaccine candidate at a fifth site, in Zambia, pending regulatory approval.
The vaccine candidate was developed by Targeted Genetics Corporation, based in Seattle, Washington, USA. The vaccine is based on HIV subtype C, the subtype of the virus most prevalent in southern and eastern Africa. The tgAAC09 vaccine candidate is designed as a preventive vaccine, intended to protect people uninfected with HIV from contracting the disease. It is designed to elicit two different types of immune responses, an antibody response and a cell-mediated response.
The study being conducted in Uganda is a small-scale trial. The trial should take about 18 months to complete and is designed to enroll a total of 78 volunteers at five sites. Its primary objective is to test for safety and to gather preliminary data on the ability of the candidate vaccine to stimulate the human immune system to fight HIV infection.
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