Tests carried out into China's first AIDS vaccine suggest the
drug could prove effective?in protecting people against the
HIV virus, the Ministry of Science and Technology announced on
Friday.
Initial clinical trials appear to show the vaccine can stimulate
the immune system's response to HIV infection.
Zhang Wei, head of the pharmaceutical registration department of
the State Food and Drug Administration, told a news briefing that
"recipients of the vaccine appeared immune to the HIV-1 virus 15
days after the injection, indicating the vaccine worked well in
stimulating immunity."
Kong Wei, the research team leader, said the initial results
were "truly inspiring."
The test involved injecting 49 healthy men and women, aged
18-50, with the vaccine.
They also received HIV-1 specific cells that were DNA fragments
of the virus and so were harmless.
"Quite a few of them, after taking both low and high dosages,
showed a fairly positive response of immunity towards the virus,"
said Kong.
He added that the recipients' reaction improved as the dosage
increased.
But Kong, a professor at Jilin University, declined to reveal
more details, saying it was too early to draw a hasty
conclusion.
Sang Guowei, director of the National Institute for the Control
of Pharmaceutical and Biological Products, said "some of the
recipients had (adverse) symptoms, but they were curable or
ignorable."
The results marked the end of the first phase of clinical trials
into the vaccine, which began in March last year in Nanning,
capital of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
The trial volunteers were divided into eight groups and were
each sampled five to 10 times. They showed no serious adverse
reaction to the vaccine during the 180-day observation period.
"We strictly followed international practices during the trial,
including the measurement of vaccine dosages," Kong said.
The scientists will now continue analysing the results before
further clinical trials.
The ministry said the second trial phase would need more than
300 volunteers, including those from high-risk groups.
In the third phase, an even larger number of participants will
be needed.
China started research of its own into an AIDS vaccine in 2003
and has more than 50 researchers involved in the work.
The country has about 650,000 HIV-affected people, including
75,000 AIDS patients, according to official estimates.
In the 10th Five-Year Plan (2001-05), more than 100 million yuan
(US$12.5 million) was invested into AIDS-related research,
according to Wang Hongguang, director of the China National Center
for Biotechnology Development.
Two of the country's 16 key scientific research projects in the
11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10) focus on AIDS
treatment and prevention.
Vice-Minister of Science and Technology, Liu Yanhua, said China
has made several breakthroughs in AIDS-related studies.
Great progress has also been made in research into preventing
mothers transmitting the HIV virus to their unborn children.
(China Daily August 19, 2006)