The only HIV vaccine still undergoing late-stage clinical trials has proven ineffective, its maker announced, another disappointment in a field long beset by failure.
Dozens of vaccine candidates have been tested and ruled out in recent decades. The latest defeat delays progress toward a vaccine by three to five years, experts said. Still, other options in the early stages of trials may provide a powerful bulwark against HIV.
The news is “disappointing, but it’s not the end of the vaccine effort,” Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, who headed the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases until December, said in an interview. “There are other strategic approaches.”
An ongoing study called PrEPVacc in Eastern and Southern Africa is testing a combination of HIV vaccines and preventive drugs. Scientists have made progress in developing powerful antibodies that can neutralize the virus. And they are testing new vaccine technologies, including mRNA, against HIV.
Still, the loss of the latest candidate underscores the challenges of designing a vaccine for an adversary as cunning as HIV. Four decades after its discovery, the virus still infects around 1.5 million people each year and kills about 650,000.
