Media Interaction on AIDS Vaccine Trial Programme in Chennai:

A media interaction was held at Chennai on June 27, 2006 to mobilize support from the print and electronic media for the ongoing Phase I Preventive AIDS Vaccine Trial in Chennai so that more people would know about the present status of preventive measures being taken to arrest the spread of HIV. The interaction was also planned to garner support of the media, as they could successfully motivate people to volunteer for the trial.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) and the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative are jointly collaborating the trial programme, which is being conducted at Tuberculosis Research Centre (TRC), Chetput.

YRG CARE is the key partner in the programme, having taken up community mobilization and recruitment of volunteers. YRG CARE’s Community Research Facility (CRF) is entrusted with this responsibility.

Jean Louis Excler, Senior Director, Medical Affairs, IAVI India, Dr. P R Narayanan, Director, TRC, Dr. V. Ramanathan, Principal Investigator of the trial and Deputy Director, TRC, and Dr. Suniti Solomon, Director, YRG CARE addressed the media and clarified on the points raised by the media during the interaction.

The investigational vaccine candidate is TBC-M4, a recombinant Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA), designed to target HIV-1 Subtype C, the most predominant HIV subtype in India. It is developed by Therion Biologics Corporation, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, in collaboration with IAVI. Dr. Sekhar Chakrtabarti, a scientist from the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases, Kolkata assisted Therion in the manufacture of vaccine.

Sixteen volunteers were recruited for the first part of the trial who have received a lower dosage. The safety data on the outcome will be reviewed by an independent international safety review board. An additional sixteen volunteers will be recruited for a higher dosage on clearance from the review board with regard to the first group of sixteen volunteers.

Interacting with the media, Dr. Suniti Solomon clarified that the vaccine is absolutely safe, since it contains only a few genetic components and not the whole virus. She assured that no person undergoing the trial would be infected by HIV through the vaccine. Each volunteer is compensated with Rs 500 for every visit for sparing time and travel according to Dr Narayanan, Director, TRC. Any vaccine related side effects will be taken care of by the Government of India and medical insurance is also provided to them for the trial period for any vaccine unrelated events, Dr Ramanathan, the Principal Investigator added. Jean Louis Excler, the Senior Director, IAVI said that multiple vaccine candidates are under trial all over the world and the one that is proved more effective and safe would be considered the best for use.