HIV: Johnson & Johnson halt trials in Africa to find vaccine
In 2019, 38 million people were living with HIV worldwide.
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Text by: RFI Follow
7 mins
This is a test program, named Imbokodo, which started in 2017 in five countries in southern Africa.
In the absence of conclusive results, "
the Imbokodo trial will not continue
," the American pharmaceutical group announced on Tuesday (August 31) in a press release.
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It is a great disappointment in the fight against this disease which affects 38 million people worldwide, a large part of them on the African continent, and against which the search for a vaccine has been unsuccessful for decades.
The Johnson & Johnson group abandons its Imbokodo program.
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This trial program is a collaboration between the American pharmaceutical group, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as well as the South African State.
No less than 2,600 young women aged 18 to 35 from Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, South Africa and Zimbabwe participated in this clinical trial.
Half of them received multiple injections of this candidate vaccine;
the other half a placebo, that is to say a drug without active principle.
But two years after the first injection, the results are inconclusive.
“
Even if the vaccine was well tolerated,
its effectiveness is only 25%,
” announces J&J.
This vaccine candidate uses "viral vector" technology, which is a common virus modified to be made harmless and to carry information that allows the body to fight off the target virus.
The same as that used by the pharmaceutical group for its vaccine against Covid-19.
"
We are disappointed that this candidate vaccine did not provide a sufficient level of protection against infection,
" said the scientific director of the American group, Paul Stoffels, who adds that this study gives important scientific results for further research. an HIV vaccine.
The group also confirms that it is continuing another trial, named Mosaico.
He is testing a vaccine, with a different composition, on men in America and Europe.
And whose trial should end in March 2024.
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To read also: The congress on HIV / AIDS opens against a background of Covid-19
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"The HIV virus changes almost every hour in the human body"
Interview with Professor Glenda Gray, virologist and president of the South African Council for Medical Research, who participated in the trials.
RFI: Are you disappointed by the end of these clinical trials?
Prof.
Glenda Gray:
Of course, we are all extremely disappointed that we cannot take the next step.
But it is very important to continue the work, in order to be able to understand who in this study was protected and who was not, what was their immune profile.
This is essential in order to be able to continue working on an HIV vaccine.
Does this mean that you will be able to use what has already been done?
We're going to look at the data we have.
Because the efficacy level of this vaccine is low, around 25%;
we are going to study what we call the variables: which women have been protected against HIV and which have not.
And try to understand their immunological profile so that we can design a more effective vaccine.
So even if J&J stops testing, others continue to work?
We work together.
It is a network of local and international scientists working on a vaccine, with partners.
J&J is a manufacturer, which manufactures the vaccine and owns the ownership rights.
But he works with scientists from all over the world.
It is a team effort between scientists, manufacturers and private and public donors.
So the search for an HIV vaccine doesn't stop
?
No, absolutely not, and she must not stop.
We continue to record a high rate of infection among women on the African continent.
It's as high as it was in the 90s. Which means we can't give up and let these women down.
Since the start of the epidemic, we have failed to reduce the risks faced by women.
This rate that we are seeing today in 2021 shows that we are not doing enough to help them.
How is it that it is more difficult to find a vaccine against HIV than against Covid, for which a vaccine was put together in record time
?
First of all, many people are recovering from the coronavirus and therefore you can study their immune system.
Whereas no one has ever been naturally cured of HIV / AIDS.
And so we don't have a good human model that we can study.
We also don't have a good animal model that could help us move forward in research.
Above all, the HIV virus multiplies and transforms very quickly, much faster than the coronavirus.
The HIV virus changes almost every hour in the human body.
And has the ability to camouflage itself by altering its genetic structure.
So it is very difficult to find a vaccine against HIV, much more difficult than for any other virus.
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