Vaccine research at CAPRISA
CAPRISA, as part of the international HIV Vaccine Trial Network (HVTN), and in collaboration with Janssen Pharmaceuticals, have launched an ambitious vaccine programme.
The HVTN component of the programme aims to improve on the RV144 trial results by rapidly testing new HIV vaccine components, and move them forward into efficacy trials, whilst simultaneously moving the South African clade specific vaccine toward licensure. So far, CAPRISA has enrolled 44 participants into the HVTN100 study, which is testing the safety and immunogenicity of an ALVAC/protein/MF59 combination.
In addition, the CAPRISA team at the eThekwini site are currently recruiting volunteers into the HIV-V-A004 Phase 1/2a study, which is testing a new mosaic vaccine with potential efficacy against multiple HIV subtypes. So far, 21 volunteers have been screened and 7 enrolled into this study.
CAPRISA’s involvement in vaccine research is expected to expand rapidly over the next two years, both in our urban and rural clinics, with the planned Antibody Mediated Prevention study using VRC01 mAb, currently scheduled to start in 2016.