The four-decade quest in finding a vaccine for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) continues with US biotech company Moderna's latest study.
Its two messenger RNA (mRNA)-based vaccines, the mRNA-1644 and mRNA-1574, will undergo three study phases, according to the US National Institutes of Health's clinical trial registry. The study's Phase I will provide data if the potential vaccines have an influence on HIV. Its Phases II and III will determine if they are effective or not. The trial is targeted to start as early as Aug. 19, 2021, and is expected to run until May 2023.
For its first stage, Modern is recruiting 56 participants aged between 18 and 50 years old for the trial. In the process, the vaccines will be tested if they will be able to produce antibodies and attack HIV and its 16 known variants.
Although there are now medications available for people living with HIV (PLHIV), finding a direct treatment for it has been a challenge for scientists and medical professionals due to its quick ability to mutate.
Famous for its COVID-19 vaccine, Moderna hopes to cure HIV with its mRNA innovation. While it generates high levels of antibodies against Sars-Cov-2, scientists aren't certain that it will be a direct antidote to the virus given its complexities, according to Independent UK.
“The mRNA platform makes it easy to develop vaccines against variants because it just requires an update to the coding sequences in the mRNA that code for the variant,” Dr. Rajesh Gandhi, an infectious diseases physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and chair of the HIV Medicine Association, said to Verywell. “Based on its success in protecting against COVID-19, I am hopeful that mRNA technology will revolutionize our ability to develop vaccines against other pathogens, like HIV and influenza.”
Globally, there is an estimated 38 million PLHIV. Locally, a 2020 report by the Philippine Department of Health (DOH) and the Philippine National AIDS Council (PNAC) states that “an average of 21 new HIV cases are now reported in the country daily.”
In October 2020, a total of 735 individuals were confirmed to be HIV-positive, and 96 percent of the group (704) were male. This statistical report explained that the nation is facing a budding public health crisis, and that continuous cooperation, collaboration with local communities, and dissemination of information are much needed.
Learn more about HIV and AIDS during this time of pandemic.