Moderna launches early-stage clinical trials of an HIV vaccine using the same technology as the pharma giant’s Covid jab
Moderna has announced that, in conjunction with the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), the biotech firm has started a Phase I trial of its HIV mRNA vaccine at a Washington, DC facility.
The trial – the first doses of which have already been administered at George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences (GWU) – is focused on producing a vaccine for HIV using the same tech that helped develop Moderna’s Covid-19 inoculation.
“The search for an HIV vaccine has been long and challenging, and having new tools in terms of immunogens and platforms could be the key to making rapid progress toward an urgently needed, effective HIV vaccine,” Dr. Mark Feinberg, president and CEO of IAVI, said in a statement about the trial.
While HIV is now manageable with medication, allowing viral loads to be reduced to undetectable and not transmissible levels, no vaccine has been developed for the virus – and several candidates have failed during clinical trials.
The Moderna vaccine seeks to use messenger RNA, or mRNA, technology to teach the recipient’s cells to make proteins that trigger immune responses to fight off potential infection.
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Alongside the primary vaccine being trialed by researchers, Moderna is working on a booster jab to deliver an immune response within individuals who receive the jab, protecting recipients from exposure to the virus in the future.