NARI touch to second AIDS vaccine trial centre in Chennai

In February, Pune-based National AIDS Research Institute (NARI) embarked upon the nation’s first-ever clinical trial on humans for an A...

In February, Pune-based National AIDS Research Institute (NARI) embarked upon the nation’s first-ever clinical trial on humans for an AIDS vaccine. But since the need is to test several such vaccines, another centre of excellence has been developed in Chennai where trials for a second AIDS vaccine is to be launched by the end of the year.

The Tuberculosis Research Centre (TRC) in Chennai is now getting ready for the Q4, 2005 trials and work is on in close coordination with NARI, Pune. ‘‘We have shared our experiences with TRC scientists and helped in setting up the laboratory apart from providing help on community preparedness,’’ said Dr R S Paranjape, officer-in-charge, NARI.

The TRC is now awaiting official communication from the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee to launch the trials, said Deputy Director V D Ramanathan in an exclusive interaction with Newsline from Chennai.

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In December 2000, the Government of India through the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare entered into an MoU with the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) to develop an AIDS vaccine specific to the virus strains prevalent in the country. The tripartite agreement is between the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and IAVI.

Since several vaccines need to be tested as quickly as possible — parallely rather than sequentially — it was decided to set up two centres of excellence for AIDS vaccine clinical evaluation. While one centre is at NARI in Pune where the first Phase I clinical trials with the AAV-based AIDS vaccine (tgAAC09) is under way, the centre at Chennai will test another vaccine candidate, Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA).

MVA is a highly attenuated (weakened) form of the vaccinia virus. It is used as a vector for six Indian HIV-1 subtype C genes. These genes were identified from recent seroconverters in India in collaboration with scientists at NARI, Pune and from consensus sequences of the Indian HIV-1 subtype C strain from an international gene database.

After TRC gets the nod from the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee, it will embark on the crucial and painstaking process of recruiting potential participants. Like in the first trials at NARI, volunteers will be recruited after a thorough community interaction process and careful individual screening.

Anuradha Mascarenhas

Anuradha Mascarenhas is a journalist with The Indian Express and is based in Pune. A senior editor, Anuradha writes on health, research developments in the field of science and environment and takes keen interest in covering women's issues. With a career spanning over 25 years, Anuradha has also led teams and often coordinated the edition. ... Read More

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