July 2, 2009

Canada’s HIV Vaccine Ready for Human Testing in U.S.

Canadian researchers are awaiting approval to begin human trials of an HIV/AIDS vaccine in the United States, CBC News reports. The vaccine has already passed safety tests in animals.

Many HIV vaccines have been tested on animals, but few have been tested on humans and none has been successful. Pharmaceutical giant Merck came close to developing a successful vaccine in 2007; however, the vaccine failed because people who took the vaccine contracted HIV at a greater rate than those who received the placebo.

Yong Kang, PhD, of the University of Western Ontario, said he expects to get the green light from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to start human toxicology tests and two phases of clinical trials in the United States. According to the article, Kang believes the vaccine will be ready within 10 years if all three trials are successful.

Search: Canada, vaccine, Merck, FDA, University of Western Ontario, human trials

Scroll down to comment on this story.

Previous Comments:

Andrew, Vancouver, 2009-07-07 23:34:20
Please pardon my cynicism, but there is simply too much $$$ at stake - to just throw it all away on developing cures. It ain't gonna happen... at least, not in my lifetime, or yours. cont...

Arny, Tel Aviv, 2009-07-07 11:02:31
Keep fingers x..it will not cure us, but will prevent new ones to get the HIV

spirit, , 2009-07-05 01:37:03
i think that's great...hopefully they will come up with a cure

Suri, new york, 2009-07-04 22:43:22
Gee, ten years... lots of time left, hope we can still here to get it