I just heard on tv news the current HIV vaccine doesn't work. Only a 3.8% improvement. However it appears it's a 67% prevention rate on Asians and Africans. However I'm not sure how reliable the trials is or how many subjects there were.

I remember reading some folks were testing the vaccine on working girls in Thailand.

I have a feeling the the Asian and African thing is an anomally, but the vaccine definitely does not work well.

5400 people uninfected in the trail and all high risk, mostly gay sexually active males. 1400 given a placebo and the rest the vaccine. Approximately 4% of each group tested positive a year later, but the Asian's and African's were noticeably less infected.

Vaxgen had a trial in Thailand as part of the failed set.
Very few vaccines are 100% preventive.

Immune Response has a vaccine that has been tried in Europe and Thailand on those already infected. Seems to work but no phase III and no money.

Immune Response is bankrupt with no one interested in bailing them out.

I would think that if they had anything going for them regarding a sucessful vaccine, a big drug company like Merck or Pfizer or somebody would have bought them out.

I use to own that stock and did very well on it. Most people bought that stock and watched it go from $20 to $80 and now down to less than a dollar. I am not sure if it is still a traded stock.

So they faked the results and cashed out on their stocks???

I don't know about fake results and selling their stock.

I am just saying that anybody that had a real vaccine that prevented AIDS/HIV or dramatically helped someone who was currently HIV positive would probably have a gold mine and Immune Response is now selling at around $1.27 per share down from approx. $50 a share three years ago.

The problem IMO with a vaccine is that is the legal problem if one person on the vaccine gets HIV. With less than 75% effectiveness that means lawsuits.
You are correct IMNR is bankrupt. Pfizer did have a deal but chickened out.
Read their site, or PR Newswire, on the latest on the Spanish study or check the Thai results on Trinty LTD. Remune seems to wrk. I had a friend on it and you would not have known he had been HIV+ for nearly 10 years and had a high viral count.
As to who would pay them, it would have to be someone that is not in HIV drugs and I don't know of any large drug company that is not.

Either that or it has seriously undesirable side effects. But glad you did well on the stocks. I know that feeling =).

Remune does not seem to have side effects, nor do the other potential vaccines. It is the HAART drugs that kill you.

Even IF it has 'only' a 70% effective rate it would be all over the papers and many people will be given a vaccine, esp those in Africa. I doubt it has anything close to that rate.

Pardon my ignorance on this very serious topic, but when they claim a 67% success rate among Asian and African populations, does that mean that patients with "successful" trials are now vaccinated against at least that one strain of HIV? In other words, are those patients now immune to the strain of HIV they were vaccinated against?

The papers here in Toronto have reported that a lot of the researh for this vaccine was done here. They agreed the results were disappointing, but pointed out that the 67% figure is solid, and an important indicator for future avenues of research.

(Message edited by luckyjackson on March 02, 2003)

(Message edited by luckyjackson on March 02, 2003)