pubs.acs.org/cen/coverstory/86/8638cover.html -
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Published on: 9/22/2008
Last Visited: 9/23/2008
Danish vaccine developer Bavarian Nordic has refocused its strategy to emphasize therapeutic HIV vaccines, Chief Scientific Officer Paul Chaplin says.In 2007, the company reported that its MVA vaccine encoding the HIV nef gene controlled viral replication in a Phase II trial.With the idea that one gene was good and more might be better, the company has begun a Phase I/II trial of an MVA-multiantigen vaccine that encodes eight of the nine HIV genes.
MVA vectors don't seem to present the same problems as adenovirus vectors, Chaplin says, and they can generate strong immune responses without replication.Developers don't want to use replicating vectors for therapeutic applications and risk adverse events in immunocompromised patients, he explains.
COMPARED WITH tests of a preventive vaccine, those for a therapeutic one will quickly show any effectiveness on HIV replication in infected people, Chaplin explains.Although Bavarian Nordic worked with HVTN on earlier candidates, it now is conducting trials on its own.It might look for support again for larger trials, Chaplin says."But it is much easier to get funding after you've gotten proof of concept in the clinic," he adds.
Both GeoVax and Bavarian Nordic are eager to advance their candidates."It's debatable how valuable the animal models truly are, since some people have had very promising animal data but very poor clinical data," Chaplin says.
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