Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.US) halts AIDS vaccine trial because it failed to significantly reduce the risk of infection
Zhitong Finance APP has learned that Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.US) has halted a large experimental AIDS vaccine trial in the Americas and Europe after a similar form of vaccine trial in Africa failed, putting a damper on the fight against the global contagion. The hopes of the disease were dashed. Johnson & Johnson announced the results of an independent periodic data review of the Phase 3 Mosaico study of an investigational HIV vaccine regimen. The study’s independent Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) determined that the regimen was not effective in preventing HIV infection among study participants compared with placebo. However, no safety issues were found with the vaccine regimen.
The trial ended early after an independent data and safety monitoring board found that Mosaico did not significantly reduce the risk of HIV infection, the company said in a statement on Wednesday. The study has been testing the vaccine, which exposes the immune system to HIV proteins via another harmless virus called adenovirus 26, in 3,900 people.
The trial, which used a vaccine regimen similar to the version of Imbokodo, which stopped in Africa in 2021, also did not meet efficacy criteria. It is the latest setback in efforts to develop an HIV vaccine since the virus was first identified in humans about 40 years ago. Although treatable, HIV infects about 1.5 million people each year and will kill about 650,000 people from the disease in 2021.
“It’s disappointing that this particular vaccine candidate didn’t work, but Mosaico is an important, well-designed, well-conducted trial,” said Mitchell Warren, executive director of AVAC, a global AIDS prevention advocacy group. Shows that, in the current environment, it is not only possible to design and conduct HIV vaccine trials, but necessary to do so.”
