Moderna on the verge of creating HIV vaccine

According to the National Institutes of Health Clinical Trial Registry, US leading pharmaceutical company, Moderna, are set to begin human trials of an experimental mRNA HIV vaccine.

Hope in sight

Scientists have been working for so long to create an effective once and for all solution against the HIV/AIDS scourge and from the look of things, hope seems to be in sight as Moderna is championing the cause for an answer.

The biotech company, which has also been very instrumental in combating the COVID-19 pandemic, announced that for its first phase of the trials, the experiment will involve 53 healthy individuals, aged 18 to 50 who have never had HIV.

The trial will be divided into four groups; two will receive a mixed version of the vaccine, while the other two groups will receive either one or the other.

Clinical trials

The company reiterated that this first test isn’t a ‘blind’ one, meaning everyone who receives the vaccine will be fully aware of what they are receiving. This phase will last for a 10-month period, this is to ensure the full proof safety of the vaccine. Once the vaccine passes the second and third phase of the clinical trails, then it can be implemented in solving the HIV scourge.

The CEO of Moderna, Stéphane Bancel had this to say:

The uniquely challenging year of 2020 for all of society proved to be an extraordinary proof-of-concept period for Moderna.

Even as we have shown that our mRNA-based vaccine can prevent COVID-19, this has encouraged us to pursue more-ambitious development programmes within our prophylactic vaccines' modality. Today we are announcing three new vaccine programmes addressing seasonal flu, HIV and the Nipah virus, some of which have eluded traditional vaccine efforts, and all of which we believe can be addressed with our mRNA technology.

The new trial is conducted in partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.