Tech | October 20, 2009 | 43 comments

First HIV vaccine trial success confirmed

source: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18011-first-hiv-vaccine-trial-success-confirmed.html

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EmperorThan
The first HIV vaccine to be called a success has stood up to scrutiny after further analysis of the data was presented today in Paris, France.

However, the new analysis also confirms that the optimistic claims, first made in September and viewed sceptically at the time, are indeed very modest.

Last month's announcement of success (PDF) was made by researchers from the US Military HIV Research Program (MHRP). They reported that their vaccine reduced the risk of infection by about 31 per cent in a trial in Thailand.

But it was not clear that the vaccine offered any protection because the result was based on very few cases: 51 of 8197 vaccinated individuals became infected with HIV compared with 74 of 8198 unvaccinated people, a difference of just 23.
Bonus data

Today, at the AIDS Vaccine 2009 meeting in Paris, MHRP researchers presented the analysis underlying the result that they announced a month ago, plus two additional analyses of the raw data (PDF).

These new analyses included people who had been excluded from the research results, such as those who did not take the six vaccine shots in the correct order. In neither was the trend statistically significant.

After hearing the new results, Seth Berkley, chief executive of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, said, "Certainly, there's some kind of signal there," but added, "It's a modest effect."

He also says that the new results are interesting because they give novel insights into how the vaccine works over time.
Early effect

The risks of infection in the vaccinated group were reduced by around 60 per cent within a year, but by 30 months after vaccination the protective effect was only 36 per cent. This resulted in a 31 per cent figure overall.

"It looked like there's an early effect that wanes with time," said Berkley. "It may be that the vaccine generates only weak antibodies against HIV, and these are only effective early on."

Berkley says that further investigation of the mechanisms by which the vaccine worked would provide powerful new knowledge to guide selection of new, more potent vaccines.
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43 comments // First HIV vaccine trial success confirmed

  • jramirez1982
  • Manatee_man
  • skryabin
    • 0
      skryabin  

    • please read more thoroughly. The fact as stated in the article is that New Secondary analysis of a Different group showed that an Alternative Method of accumulating the shots was not statistically significant. That means that apparently the body needs to be exposed to these treatments in a certain order to be effective.

      And yes, Thailand is being used as an experimenting ground for HIV treatments. Because it's not being conducted by the US Government but by the Thailand Ministry of Public Health with assistance by the US Government. Also, all of the people involved with the experiment were voluntary, and finally, most importantly, it is NOT possible to contract HIV from this vaccine. Here's a good place to start for more information...

      http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/10/20/health/A...

      and here

      http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/25/health/research/2...

      please read these before getting up in arms about mistreatment of humans, jumping to conclusions about the American government, and finally, please read THIS article more carefully, and try to understand what they are talking about.

    • 2 years ago
  • animalia_libero
  • skryabin
    • 0
      skryabin  
    • animalia_libero:

      please read more thoroughly. The fact as stated in the article is that New Secondary analysis of a Different group showed that an Alternative Method of accumulating the shots was not statistically significant. That means that apparently the body needs to be exposed to these treatments in a certain order to be effective.

      And yes, Thailand is being used as an experimenting ground for HIV treatments. Because it's not being conducted by the US Government but by the Thailand Ministry of Public Health with assistance by the US Government. Also, all of the people involved with the experiment were voluntary, and finally, most importantly, it is NOT possible to contract HIV from this vaccine. Here's a good place to start for more information...

      http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/10/20/health/AP-US-MED-AIDS-Vaccine.html?_r...

      and here

      http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/25/health/research/25aids.html

      please read these before getting up in arms about mistreatment of humans, jumping to conclusions about the American government, and finally, please read THIS article more carefully, and try to understand what they are talking about.

    • 2 years ago
  • blood77
  • xJasper
  • skryabin
    • 0
      skryabin  

    • ok, this is a follow up article. The original news came out a couple of weeks ago, and the first articles had a lot more information. The way people are reacting to this news bit shows they dont really know enough about it. I'd recommend finding Currents earlier articles and going to NYTimes where there is another involved article.

      For those of you who aren't going to do that... 1st off, this isn't confirmed as in "we're good to go" it's confirmed meaning the test results are legitimate. Currently the vaccine only has a 31% success rate which, although it's a wonderful thing, means it's far from being a true vaccine. What this breakthrough really means is that scientists can BEGIN to understand what an AIDS vaccine might require to be really successful.

      As for all of the jerks claiming that vaccines are deadly or some kind of government ploy, Shame on you! If vaccines are so horrible, how is it I survived all of my childhood vaccinations? If vaccines are so deadly, why is it that Polio is basically nonexistent in todays society? shouldn't we all be paralytic and slowly suffering from Polio, not to mention hepatitus B and Menengitis?

      And do your research before you claim that vaccines are deadly. This AIDS vaccine does not carry anything like the AIDS virus. Scientists have synthesized proteins that are identical to certain strains found in the AIDS virus. This is NOT the AIDS virus, the proteins being used are harmless, and there is literally Zero chance of a person contracting HIV or developing AIDS from taking this vaccination. Want proof? Like I said, look a little deeper into Current, or head over to NYTimes. There are plenty of articles related to this news.

    • 2 years ago
  • joreveusa
    • 0
      joreveusa  

    • this does not mean we can have unprotected sex all this means is it will help those in trouble and who are sick, keep using pretection for there are still many other little nasties you can still catch, plus this world is already highly over populated so keep using condoms and birth control, btw how come there is a birthcontrol for men? imma 18 and if i had a something to keep me from gettin my partner pregnant that would be wonderful

    • 2 years ago
  • bpihlidl
  • UWAZell
  • mayhem
    • 0
      mayhem  

    • Sucks for the people who weren't given the vaccine. "Here you go you got the vaccine now go have unprotected sex".... Few months later. "You have aids that was just a placebo."

    • 2 years ago
  • JeremyTG77
  • mrlollypop
  • Pawper
    • +1
      Pawper  

    • To peeps being negative:

      If everyone got the HIV vaccine, even if it is not 100% effective, it will still slow the spread of HIV waaaaay down.

      Also, peeps need to remember that a vaccine is not a cure. It's preventative, while a cure would remove the disease.

    • 2 years ago
  • FishaHouse777
  • dv627univ
  • UndoInfluence
    • 0
      UndoInfluence  
    • dv627univ:

      OMG YOU'RE RIGHT! DON'T RISK YOUR LIFE WITH BIG PHARMACY'S VACCINES! BUY MISLABELED HERBS FROM SOME RANDOM GUY'S GARAGE INSTEAD!!!!

      I'm pretty sure the whole scientific community agrees with you in that vaccines have never done anything but harm us, you know... besides wiping certain viruses off the face of the planet...

    • 2 years ago
  • judiestar
  • jramirez1982
  • RojoGatto
  • Nettle
  • coffing
    • 0
      coffing  

    • over 25 years trying to create a cure or vaccine and the best we can do is 1 in 3 people who get SIX vaccine shots (in the right order) might not get the disease? ugh.
      AIDS sucks.

    • 2 years ago
  • Rachelah
    • 0
      Rachelah  
    • coffing:

      Still, these things take time. I think you're looking at it the wrong way. 25 years people have been suffering without even hope of a vaccine, and this breakthrough happens. So what if it takes 6 shots in the right order? So what if the best we can do is help 1 out of 3 people? It is a start. We are helping more people than we could, we are learning new things that will help us in the future, and no matter how slow we go we are making progress.
      I realize that AIDs sucks, but if people walk around with negative attitudes like that we will never get anything accomplished. If I were working in a lab for 25 years searching for something to cure AIDs, I would be rejoicing about this breakthrough, not being upset it didn't come sooner. Like I said, these things take time, and it's unfortunate, but it's just the way things are.

    • 2 years ago
  • coffing
    • 0
      coffing  
    • coffing:

      "these things take time"?
      "walk around with negative attitudes"?
      are you serious?
      i'm just saying AIDS sucks, considering.
      relax.
      and i guess i'm also saying that it's either hard as hell to cure and it is frustrating and lame that all that time and energy and money has yielded such moderate results. or, the pharmaceutical companies are sponsoring the slowness so they can keep selling drugs - the dozens of different drugs that aids patients take every day in order to stay "healthy".
      either way, AIDS sucks.
      and i think "breakthrough" is way too much credit to give to a 30% success rate. i think condoms have like a 98% success rate.

    • 2 years ago
  • Rachelah
    • 0
      Rachelah  

    • It's funny, I'm so young, I never expected this to happen until I was older. I was shocked coming to the homepage seeing "First HIV Vaccine trial successfully confirmed". My whole life (and like I said, I'm young), I've been educated about AIDs, how horrible it is, how it's a pandemic, how there's no known cure "yet". When you're educated like that, how could you possibly dream of a vaccine?
      This makes me really happy, having felt this sort of "time in history" where it was the beginning of a life-saving vaccine that someday we'll all probably get in our booster shots.

    • 2 years ago
  • Chinda_Kien
  • TE1091
  • BenDorries
  • Saladin
  • BenDorries
  • Atalanda_Cameron
  • larrysnotes
  • lordsbassman
  • crashbangnoises
  • JulianCommongold
  • EmperorThan
  • JulianCommongold
  • Nettle
  • agreeablestatistic
  • JulianCommongold
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