HIV & AIDS Health Center

New Study May Aid Search for AIDS Vaccine

Vaccine Would Have Global Impact

Koff says even a partially effective HIV vaccine could have a major worldwide impact.

Each day, more than 7,000 people around the world are infected with the virus that causes AIDS. The IAVI estimates that a partially effective vaccine that works in just half of the people who get it, given to just 30% of the population would prevent 5.6 million new infections between 2015 and 2030.

Joseph P. McGowan, MD, of the North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, N.Y., calls the new research exciting, but he adds that it remains to be seen if it will lead to an effective HIV vaccine.

McGowan is medical director of North Shore University Hospital’s Center for AIDS Research & Treatment.

“We’ve had a lot of setbacks, but there does appear to be something here,” he tells WebMD. “There are still major hurdles. I wouldn’t want people to get the idea that this will result in vaccine trials next week or next month.”

The Seattle-based biotech company Theraclone Sciences and San Francisco-based Monogram Biosciences Inc. contributed to the research