NEW YORK, Feb 09 (Reuters Health) -- The largest clinical trial of an AIDS vaccine in a developing country will take place in Thailand, which approved the trial on Tuesday. The study will begin later this month and will include 2,500 volunteers, according to a statement issued by VaxGen, Inc., the vaccine manufacturer.
The Thailand trial will be conducted at 17 methadone drug treatment centers in Bangkok, and will include people at risk of infection due to intravenous drug use.
The first results of the trials will be available in 2 to 3 years, according to UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS.
"This is a critical milestone," said Dr. Seth Berkeley, president of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative. "Most AIDS vaccine research has been focused on the epidemic in industrialized countries. We applaud VaxGen for its work in Thailand and on HIV epidemics in developing countries, and we urge other vaccine makers to follow its example."
The vast majority of those infected with HIV live in the developing world. As many as 800,000 of Thailand's 60 million inhabitants are infected, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta (CDC).
The CDC will continue to work with Thai health officials and VaxGen to "ensure that individuals in the trial receive appropriate risk reduction counseling and are fully educated about how the trial works, the potential risks and benefits of participation, and the need for maintaining good behavioral risk reduction practices during the trial."
