AIDS Vaccine Disappoints
A promising AIDS vaccine developed by Merck has proven unsuccessful in a major international trial. It's a huge setback, not just because this particular vaccine was further along than others, but because it used a new strategy shared by a number of alternatives.A promising AIDS vaccine developed by Merck has proven unsuccessful in a major international trial. It’s a huge setback, not just because this particular vaccine was further along than others, but because it used a new strategy shared by a number of alternatives.
Your support matters…AP:
It was a high-profile failure in the daunting quest to develop a vaccine to prevent AIDS. Merck’s vaccine was the farthest along and was closely watched by experts in the field.
Officials at the company, based in Whitehouse Station, N.J., said 24 of 741 volunteers who got the vaccine in one segment of the experiment later became infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. In a comparison group of volunteers who got dummy shots, 21 of 762 participants also became infected.
“It’s very disappointing news,” said Keith Gottesdiener, head of Merck’s clinical infectious disease and vaccine research group. “A major effort to develop a vaccine for HIV really did not deliver on the promise.”
Independent journalism is under threat and overshadowed by heavily funded mainstream media.
You can help level the playing field. Become a member.
Your tax-deductible contribution keeps us digging beneath the headlines to give you thought-provoking, investigative reporting and analysis that unearths what's really happening- without compromise.
Give today to support our courageous, independent journalists.
Opinion
A HIV survivor and former instructor reflects on his experiences.
The 40th president, though he proved to be less extreme than his campaign promises, ignited a wide transformation that resounds to this day.
In 2017, almost 16,000 people died from complications of the virus.
Pundits and politicians have transformed the 41st president into a paragon of virtue. All it took was a willful ignorance of history.
Dec. 1 marks the 30th World AIDS Day—and despite leaps forward in medicine and awareness in affluent parts of the world, it’s still a big problem elsewhere.
You need to be a supporter to comment.
There are currently no responses to this article.
Be the first to respond.