Nobel Prize winner predicts 'therapeutic vaccine' for AIDS within four years

London, Oct 7 : A French scientist honoured with the Nobel Prize for discovering the Aids virus has predicted that there would be a 'therapeutic vaccine' for the disease within four years.

Luc Montagnier and his team discovered HIV at the French Pasteur Institute in Paris 25 years ago, and have been awarded the prestigious prize along with other scientists who worked on discovering the root of the virus.

Montagnier, 76, said a treatment could be possible in the future with a 'therapeutic' rather than preventive vaccine for which results might be published in three or four years if financial backing is forthcoming.

"I think it will be possible with a therapeutic vaccine rather than preventative vaccinations. We would give it to people who are already infected," the Telegraph quoted Montagnier, director of the World Foundation for AIDS Research and Prevention, as saying.

A therapeutic vaccine prevents disease from flourishing after it has taken hold.

The Nobel Assembly of Sweden's Karolinska Institute said in a statement:The discovery was one prerequisite for the current understanding of the biology of the disease and its antiretroviral treatment."

ANI