A combination of two vaccines to fight the HIV virus that previously had failed in trials has proven to be effective as a new vaccine against AIDS, announced MItchell Warren, executive director of the international AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition that helped develop the immunization.
The two vaccines being used in combination are ALVAC, from Sanofi Pasteur, a subsidiary of Sanofi-Aventis, and AIDSVAX, developed by VaxGen Inc. but currently held by the nonprofit organization "Global Solutions for Infectious Diseases," founded by former VaxGen employees. Neither worked when tested individually in 2003, but "The combination is stronger than each of the individual members," explained Colonel Jerome Kim, who led the study and manages the U.S. Army HIV vaccine program.
The study, which was conducted by the Thailand Ministry of Health on some 16,000 volunteers in Thailand, was sponsored by the U.S. Army together with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, headed by Dr. Anthony Fauci. It is not yet known whether the new vaccine will be proven effective against other strains of the HIV virus in Africa or elsewhere in the world.