HIV Vaccines and Prevention

The first speaker evaluated the performance of a Thailand Clinical Research Unit and its ability to coordinate HIV vaccine trials within the country as well as the unit's ability to collaborate with international partners. The success of the unit was attributed to the highly motivated and dedicated staff, the support of military medical units and two universities. Interest from the audience was centred around patent rights with the speaker indicating that agreement had been reached for post marketing strategies but this was not happening during the phase I/II/III trials. The unit had received such good compliance from individuals participating in the trial due to the good communication skills of the staff. The next presentation discussed the early results from a Social Research Policy Response to a candidate HIV vaccine trial again in Thailand. The questionnaire is in the early stages of development although more advanced than most countries in the region participating in HIV vaccine trials. It was noted from the floor that Thailand is a nation that has an extremely good infrastructure developed over the last 10 years. Further, it has a willingness to share and participate while extending their knowledge and understanding of the systems in place. The pharmaceutical companies involved in the Thai studies indicated that industry was showing a great deal of willingness to participate and were happy to assist from a public relations exercise while receiving assistance from the World Bank. A paper comparing two methodologies - CTL Assay and ELI spot was then presented. The trials for the evaluation were conducted in the US and Thailand. Results presented indicated that both assays were giving similar results.

Dr Tony Kelleher, the Garvin Institute, University of NSW, Sydney, Australia is involved in the use of both these assays for the Australian HIV Vaccine Initiative. Tony agreed and supported the comparison of the results while suggesting that the ELI spot was much easier in terms of time to generate results and having the desirable characteristic of a non-radioisotope requiring assay. In the future the ELI spot will be read using a similar system to the now well-established ELIZA automotive plate readers. An excellent break through for ease of data generation, ease of sample flow through and quicker return of results to HIV specialists and General Practitioners. A further study on the safety and tolerability of a candidate vaccine ALVAC/HIV (vCP1521) was presented. Although the safety profiles were in the range leading to the advancement to phase III testing it was unfortunate that the degree of coverage was far from optimal.