The Food and Drug Administration has approved clinical trials for a new HIV vaccine manufactured in Canada.

 

With the financial backing of the South Korean pharmaceutical venture company Sumagen, scientists at the University of Western Ontario, led by Dr. Chil-Yong Kang, developed the SAV001 vaccine using a dead HIV-1 virus that’s been genetically engineered to not cause the virus in humans.

 

Phase 1 trials involving 40 HIV-positive patients will begin in January. They are expected to last for six months, followed by a one-year evaluation period. The next phase trials will be performed on 600 HIV-negative patients from high-risk groups, such as hemophiliacs, injection drug users, sex trade workers and those in the gay community with multiple sexual partners.

 

Meanwhile, researchers in Norway are continuing to test their own HIV vaccine that’s administered through the nose. The biotechnology company Bionor Pharma claims its testing so far has shown the drug is effective in fighting off the basis for AIDS.

 

It is estimated that worldwide more than 33 million people are HIV-positive. Since AIDS was first identified in 1981, more than 30 million have died from the disease, including more than 615,000 in the United States.

-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky

 

HIV Vaccine Trial Approved by FDA (CBC News)

Canadian Researchers to Start Clinical Trials of HIV Vaccine in January (by Hilary Roberts, Postmedia News)