Jakarta, CNN Indonesia —
Trials the HIV vaccine The so-called “last bet” of the decade was abandoned after results showed it fell short of expectations.
The HIV prevention vaccine study, PrEPVacc, led by African researchers and supported by European scientists, is testing two experimental vaccines alongside a new form of oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) therapy.
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT
Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) therapy is a method that protects users from HIV transmission by taking a tablet once every day. However, this therapy does not prevent users from being infected with other sexually transmitted diseases.
Reported CNN On Saturday (9/12), the project leader stopped trials of this vaccine because trials showed results that were not effective in preventing HIV infection.
Even so, PrEPVacc is said to have shown no problems with the safety of the vaccine. Additionally, the oral preparation component of the trial is continuing.
The failure of the HIV vaccine experiment is said to be a major blow to the media community, which has encountered many dead ends since the first HIV vaccine trial began 36 years ago.
[Gambas:Video CNN]
Although new HIV infections have decreased drastically since their peak in the mid-’90s, the latest data from the United Nations program for the HIV/AIDS epidemic, UNAIDS, shows that there are 39 million people in the world living with this virus.
More than half of the data is from adult women and girls, with young women and adolescent girls aged 15-24 years, accounting for 77 percent of new cases in sub-Saharan Africa.
The medical community still has not found an effective HIV vaccine. Before this trial was carried out, one of those involved warned that similar research would not be possible until the 2030s.
The PrEPVacc project was carried out on 1,500 volunteers in Uganda, Tanzania and South Africa. As many as 87 percent of the participants were women.
PrEPVacc Chief Investigator, Pontiano Kaleebu, said in his statement that the medical community must look for new generation vaccine approaches and technologies when looking at the results of their trials.
“Developing a vaccine to prevent HIV is an important goal for Africa. This goal must have greater urgency now because no HIV vaccine has been tested for efficacy anywhere in the world,” said Kaleebu.
This statement was echoed by the director of this project, doctor Eugene Ruzagira. He stated that although the scientific hurdles in finding a vaccine are high, the hope is equally high that one day there will be a vaccine for HIV.
“Important research like PrEPVacc moves us forward, and participants are willing to step forward with us and make a difference to the health of their communities,” said Ruzagira.
According to the researchers, complete results of the vaccine component of the PrEPVacc trial will be published in the summer of 2024.
(end)
2023-12-10 19:04:27
#PrEPVacc #HIV #Vaccine #Trial #Stopped #Disappointing #Results
