J & J puts HIV vaccine on trial

Johnson & Johnson plans to expand testing of its potential HIV vaccine by extending testing to men in the United States and Europe, Bloomberg said.

The company will work with the HIV vaccine testing network to test 3,800 people later this year.

The vaccine candidate has been developed to provide protection against a range of viral strains, having been created using genes from a wide variety of HIV-causing virus subtypes. The treatment schedule includes four vaccinations over one year.

Phase I / IIa studies suggest that the treatment is well tolerated and induces an immune response to different HIV-1 strains.

The potential treatment was developed with the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and the US Army Medical Equipment Development Business.

US and European studies join an ongoing Phase IIb concept concept efficacy study of 2600 young women in five countries in southern Africa.

Current estimates suggest that more than 35 million people live with the virus worldwide and that in 2017, nearly one million people died as a result of the disease.

HIV evolutionA flawless stay

Just days before Bloomberg announces the news, ViiV Healthcare, an HIV treatment company involved with GSK, Pfizer, and Shionogi, has announced that its two-drug treatment has achieved the same level of viral suppression as three-drug regimen including Gilead's Vemlidy (tenofovir alafenamide fumarate). ).

Dovato (dolutegravir plus lamivudine) is a ViiV-suggested single tablet daily regimen that reduces the number of side effects of the three current treatments.