a322x1n
2021-08-14 08:17:18 UTC
<https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/moderna-s-hiv-vaccine-to-start-
human-trials-early-as-wednesday-uses-mrna-like-covid-shot/ar-AANj13d?ocid
=msedgdhp>
<https://tinyurl.com/9fmmezeh>
Moderna's HIV Vaccine to Start Human Trials Early As Wednesday, Uses
mRNA Like COVID Shot Aila Slisco 5 hrs ago.
Biotechnology company Moderna is preparing to begin human trials on HIV
vaccines as early as Wednesday, using the same mRNA platform as the
firm's COVID-19 vaccine.
An entry posted Wednesday to the National Institutes of Health's
registry of clinical trials shows that the trials are estimated to start
on August 19 and should be completed by spring 2023.
Moderna has two HIV vaccine candidates, mRNA-1644 and mRNA-1644v2-Core,
both of which have cleared initial safety testing before being used on
humans for the first time. The randomized trials will include 56
HIV-negative participants aged 18 to 56.
HIV is one of several viruses that Moderna is targeting for vaccine
development using the mRNA platform. The Moderna and the Pfizer/BioNTech
COVID-19 vaccines were the first-ever mRNA vaccines authorized for human
use in the U.S., although the technology had been in development for
decades and was reaching maturity as the pandemic emerged.
Attempts to develop an HIV vaccine have been ongoing for decades but
have met with little success. While multiple vaccine candidates have
reached the trial stage, not all were found to be safe and almost none
were shown to be even modestly effective.
What was likely the most effective candidate, a vaccine trialed in
Thailand during the 2000s, was found to reduce infections by around 30
percent, although the trial results were considered controversial by
some scientists.
Unlike the Moderna candidate, none of the previous HIV vaccine
candidates were developed using mRNA. Since the mRNA platform offers a
fresh approach and has been shown to be safe and effective with
COVID-19, scientists are hopeful that it will lead to an HIV
breakthrough.
In addition, mRNA technology could have some distinct advantages over
more traditional methods due to the nature of HIVa virus that has
quickly mutated into many different variants over the decades.
"The mRNA platform makes it easy to develop vaccines against variants
because it just requires an update to the coding sequences in the mRNA
that code for the variant," Dr. Rajesh Gandhi, an infectious disease
expert who chairs the HIV Medicine Association, told Verywell Health.
"Based on its success in protecting against COVID-19, I am hopeful that
mRNA technology will revolutionize our ability to develop vaccines
against other pathogens, like HIV and influenza," added Gandhi.
Several other companies are also working on HIV vaccines. Some
candidates are currently in, or about to enter, clinical trials. The
other vaccines were developed using a variety of approaches, including
the technique used in the partially-successful Thailand trial.
mRNA changes _everything_. We can now attack viruses that thumbed their
noses at us for such a long, long time.
Prayer won't save you, but science will.
human-trials-early-as-wednesday-uses-mrna-like-covid-shot/ar-AANj13d?ocid
=msedgdhp>
<https://tinyurl.com/9fmmezeh>
Moderna's HIV Vaccine to Start Human Trials Early As Wednesday, Uses
mRNA Like COVID Shot Aila Slisco 5 hrs ago.
Biotechnology company Moderna is preparing to begin human trials on HIV
vaccines as early as Wednesday, using the same mRNA platform as the
firm's COVID-19 vaccine.
An entry posted Wednesday to the National Institutes of Health's
registry of clinical trials shows that the trials are estimated to start
on August 19 and should be completed by spring 2023.
Moderna has two HIV vaccine candidates, mRNA-1644 and mRNA-1644v2-Core,
both of which have cleared initial safety testing before being used on
humans for the first time. The randomized trials will include 56
HIV-negative participants aged 18 to 56.
HIV is one of several viruses that Moderna is targeting for vaccine
development using the mRNA platform. The Moderna and the Pfizer/BioNTech
COVID-19 vaccines were the first-ever mRNA vaccines authorized for human
use in the U.S., although the technology had been in development for
decades and was reaching maturity as the pandemic emerged.
Attempts to develop an HIV vaccine have been ongoing for decades but
have met with little success. While multiple vaccine candidates have
reached the trial stage, not all were found to be safe and almost none
were shown to be even modestly effective.
What was likely the most effective candidate, a vaccine trialed in
Thailand during the 2000s, was found to reduce infections by around 30
percent, although the trial results were considered controversial by
some scientists.
Unlike the Moderna candidate, none of the previous HIV vaccine
candidates were developed using mRNA. Since the mRNA platform offers a
fresh approach and has been shown to be safe and effective with
COVID-19, scientists are hopeful that it will lead to an HIV
breakthrough.
In addition, mRNA technology could have some distinct advantages over
more traditional methods due to the nature of HIVa virus that has
quickly mutated into many different variants over the decades.
"The mRNA platform makes it easy to develop vaccines against variants
because it just requires an update to the coding sequences in the mRNA
that code for the variant," Dr. Rajesh Gandhi, an infectious disease
expert who chairs the HIV Medicine Association, told Verywell Health.
"Based on its success in protecting against COVID-19, I am hopeful that
mRNA technology will revolutionize our ability to develop vaccines
against other pathogens, like HIV and influenza," added Gandhi.
Several other companies are also working on HIV vaccines. Some
candidates are currently in, or about to enter, clinical trials. The
other vaccines were developed using a variety of approaches, including
the technique used in the partially-successful Thailand trial.
mRNA changes _everything_. We can now attack viruses that thumbed their
noses at us for such a long, long time.
Prayer won't save you, but science will.