Print

Mail

wiki links

Thailand vows to go ahead with AIDS experiment

Thailand yesterday dismissed criticism by American HIV researchers that a massive test of a possible AIDS vaccine on thousands of healthy Thais would fail, saying the US-funded trial still had hopes of breaking new ground.

Twenty-two leading US HIV scientists allege that the 16,000 Thai volunteers who are expected to receive a shot over the next two years will receive a cocktail made of two antiquated AIDS drugs, each of which failed previous human tests.

The researchers, including a co-discoverer of the AIDS virus, Robert Gallo, also said the US government was wasting US$119 million by funding the experiment.

They made the allegation in a signed opinion article published in yesterday's issue of the US journal Science.

"We admit each drug by itself doesn't work, but that's why we started this project -- to see if the combination could work," said Dr. Prasert Thongcharoen, chairman of the Thai National AIDS Commission's subcommittee on HIV Vaccine Development.

Prasert said the trial underwent strong scrutiny in both its technical and ethical aspects by more than 11 committees which included both Thai and American researchers.

The teams considered canceling the trial after the failure of a smaller test by Bangkok authorities, but in discussions at a UNAIDS and Communicable Disease Control forum in Geneva last year, "everyone agreed we must go on to learn exactly what could happen," he said.

The earlier trial, which began in 1999 and was declared a failure last year, was conducted with 2,500 Thai drug addicts and used only the trial vaccine AIDSVAX.

Prasert lashed out at the US scientists for criticizing the current trial, saying the experiment is "a must" and is "the only way" to understand whether the drug combination is effective.

"I don't think this is a waste of time," he said, noting that Thailand has the E-type strain of the virus, which few other countries have. "Who will do that trial for us if we don't do it?"

Last year, AIDSVAX, created by California-based VaxGen Inc, also failed to protect volunteers against the disease in a 5,400-person North American trial.

Since then, VaxGen essentially has abandoned its pursuit of an AIDS vaccine.

Despite those failures, AIDSVAX is one of the drugs being used in the current trial. It's the second part of a one-two punch called "prime boost" that its supporters see as the most promising approach to defeat the AIDS virus by provoking several different immune responses.

A VaxGen spokeswoman declined comment.
This story has been viewed 3631 times.