A Canadian-developed HIV vaccine has won approval to begin testing on humans. Developed by a group of Canadian Scientists at the University of Western Ontario, the vaccine was green-lit by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for clinical human trials. The vaccine will be tested on 40 people beginning in January.
The vaccine uses a non-pathogenic version of the virus to activate an immune response in humans. It is the same strategy used in developing vaccines for influenza, polio, rabies and hepatitis A. If proven safe, the vaccine will enter phase 2, where it will be tested on 600 HIV-negative individuals at risk for HIV infection. Phase 3 would test 6000 individuals to track the vaccine’s success.
