HIV Vaccine Approved for Human Clinical Trials
Dr. Chil-Yong Kang and his team at The University of Western Ontario have been studying HIV for the last twenty years and working on a vaccine for the last ten years. They recently received approval by the USFDA to start human clinical trials. Their vaccine is unique in that it uses a killed whole HIV-1, unlike other vaccines that focused on either one specific component of HIV as an antigen, genetic vaccine using recombinant DNA, or recombinant viruses carrying the HIV genes.
A potential first and only preventative HIV vaccine, developed by Dr. Chil-Yong Kang and his team at The University of Western Ontario, has received approval by the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) to start human clinical trials this month south of the border.
With the support of Sumagen Canada, and based on a genetically modified killed whole virus, the vaccine holds tremendous promise, having already proven to stimulate strong immune responses in preliminary toxicology tests with no adverse effects or safety risks.
With the USFDA holding the most stringent approval requirements, Kang chose to go this route with the only HIV vaccine currently under development in Canada - and one of only a few in the world.
“FDA approval for human clinical trials is an extremely significant milestone for our vaccine, which has the potential to save the lives of millions of people around the world by preventing HIV infection,” says Kang, a researcher and professor at Western’s Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry.