Putting the HIV vaccine trial news in context
We'd be remiss not to acknowledge Friday's news about positive results from an HIV vaccine trial in Thailand, a story that received tremendous attention from the print and broadcast media. (Here's more coverage from the Associated Press, Washington Post, Philadelphia Inquirer, and Reuters, and press releases from the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative and the NIH.)
The title of the NIH press release notably refers to the "modest" preventive effect of the vaccine, a clear indication that everyone ought to take a deep breath before even considering headlines about the "End of AIDS." This message evidently was received by the media (with one exception). Coverage of the trial results largely avoided the breathless optimism that often appears in stories about vaccine research against a novel target -- we've written at length on this topic. Even after Friday's news, all agree that a vaccine against HIV is, at best, many years away, and there are still prominent voices in the scientific community who doubt whether one will ever be developed.
As the stories above explain, the vaccine tested in Thailand -- a combination of two previously-unsuccessful vaccine components -- seems to have provided some additional protection against HIV infection. Experts are for now at a loss to explain the mechanism by which this could happen. The level of protection is far less than what most associate with an effective vaccine, even less than the reduced target set for a potential HIV vaccine. However, as we've documented over the years, HIV vaccine research has endured decades of setbacks and disappointments, making Friday's news a welcome departure from the norm.
In yesterday's New York Times, Donald McNeil took a break from the H1N1 flu beat to imagine the potential implications of an AIDS vaccine. His excellent story, "If AIDS Went the Way of Smallpox," balances a look at the potential implications of a safe and effective vaccine with the reality of the limitations of the current news and the many scientific challenges that remain.
The title of the NIH press release notably refers to the "modest" preventive effect of the vaccine, a clear indication that everyone ought to take a deep breath before even considering headlines about the "End of AIDS." This message evidently was received by the media (with one exception). Coverage of the trial results largely avoided the breathless optimism that often appears in stories about vaccine research against a novel target -- we've written at length on this topic. Even after Friday's news, all agree that a vaccine against HIV is, at best, many years away, and there are still prominent voices in the scientific community who doubt whether one will ever be developed.
As the stories above explain, the vaccine tested in Thailand -- a combination of two previously-unsuccessful vaccine components -- seems to have provided some additional protection against HIV infection. Experts are for now at a loss to explain the mechanism by which this could happen. The level of protection is far less than what most associate with an effective vaccine, even less than the reduced target set for a potential HIV vaccine. However, as we've documented over the years, HIV vaccine research has endured decades of setbacks and disappointments, making Friday's news a welcome departure from the norm.
Labels: Developing world, HIV, New vaccine targets, NIH, Research
posted by J. Schwartz at 2:04 PM
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