Breakthrough achieved in development of vaccine for HIV

Bangalore, Apr 14 (UNI) The National Institute of Epidemiology, Chennai, has achieved a breakthrough by developing Vaccine for the dreaded disease Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and conducted vaccine trial in phase I which had produced promising results, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Director General Dr N K Ganguly said today.

Speaking to newsmen after delivering his key-note address at a Conference on 'Clinical Research and Developments in India' organised at the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), at the IISc campus here, Dr Ganguly said that the newly developed vaccine has shown promising results with 50 to 60 per cent positive response during trials.

He said that if the invented drug which proves 30 per cent result and administer to 40 per cent of the HIV infested population the infection reduces in Five million people, while with 50 per cent success and administer in 50 per cent HIV population it would reduce infection in 17 million people.

Dr Ganguly said that at the moment the complete analysis was not formed on the newly invented vaccine which was all set to go for phase III trial. The new vaccine was the combine of two vectors, Modified Virus Ankara (MVA) with 6 gene pack and Adeno-Associated Virus (AAV) packed with 3 genes derived enthusiastic results during phase I clinical trial and expressed hope that it will enter into Phase III clinical trial at the Institute.

He said that after targetting the genetic material and tested at the research laboratory initially shown no immunal response however after modifying the combination and rectifying the errors shown a promising 50 to 60 per cent response, he added.

Earlier delivering his address, Dr Ganguly said that even though the country has abundance skill and manpower the lack of infrastructure facilities in the clinical research sector have hindered the anticipated growth in the area.

Dr Ganguly said that during last few years the things have started changing after formulating new and promote oriented policy initiatives taken by the union government including extending olive branch for private-public partnership.

Dr Ganguly also observed that even though the country has rich potential in the area of Clinical research there is no any infrastructure with specialised clinical beds all over the country.

"This has to be addressed by both Clinical Research Institutes and Pharmaceutical companies in private-public partnership and Government alone can not do it alone", he added.

He said that slowly and steadily the nation has formulated certain policies, ethical guidelines and these were gradually going into legal framework. The Government of India would announce shortly the Bio-bank policy followed by Stemcell policy .

UNI