SA Aids vaccine 'promising'
3 June 2003
A team of mostly women scientists from South Africa has developed an Aids vaccine that, together with a series of other vaccines developed by scientists around the world, could be tested on humans within the next few years.
The research team, based at the University of Cape Town’s Institute of Infectious Diseases and Molecular Medicine, has come up with three different vaccinations which, if taken in combination, may block the Aids virus.
According to The Star newspaper, more than 20 vaccines have been developed by scientists around the world – mainly from the US, Britain, China and France – which have either been tested on humans or will soon be used in human trials.
Reports The Star: “The South African vaccine is based on a combination of two vaccines, which are given to people a few weeks apart. It uses a strategy, developed by Oxford Professor Andrew McMichael and Dr Tomas Hanke, which has shown promise in human
trials.”
Used on their own, the vaccines would not be effective, but used in combination in a strategy called “Prime Boost” – where a combination of two or more different Aids vaccines are administered several weeks apart - the vaccines show more promise.
The UCT vaccine initiative is part of the broader South African Aids Vaccine Initiative (SAAVI), funded by the government and SA electricity supplier Eskom.
Women in the forefront
Two sisters form part of the UCT team: Professor Anna-Lise Williamson, who is an internationally respected scientist, leads the team. Her sister, Professor Carolyn Williamson, came up with the concept behind the vaccine.
Carolyn Williamson has also been involved in the creation of another vaccine about to be tested on humans in collaboration with US researcher Professor Robert Johnston. She won the World Technology Award for her role in this two years ago. Both the vaccines she has been involved in
developing are considered among the more hopeful of the many being tested.
Other team members include Professor Enid Shephard, an immunologist, and molecular biologists Dr Joanne van Harmelen and Dr Wendy Burgers. Burgers, who lived in England, returned home to SA specifically to do her bit to fight Aids. “I had once said that I would never work on HIV, but the gravity of the situation just hits you. So I came back here and asked if I could have a job – and I got it,” she told The Star.
Green light for SA trials expected soon
Although some vaccine trials are expected to start in the US next month after the US Food and Drug Administration gives the go-ahead, many scientists believe it will be as long as 10 years before an effective vaccine against the killer Aids virus is found. Developing the vaccines themselves, negotiating the red tape and ethical issues surrounding human trials, and the trials themselves are all lengthy
processes, taking several years.
Trials of one vaccine, called AlphaVax, manufactured by a US biotechnology firm and which Carolyn Williamson worked on, were due to start in both South Africa and the US next month, but will now go ahead in the US first. There was a two-year delay in getting the trials started at all, because of “technical problems”.
Furthermore, the Medicines Control Council must still give the go-ahead for the AlphaVax vaccine to go on trial in South Africa. The MCC is expected to give the green light for both the AlphaVax and two other Aids vaccines soon: one developed by pharmaceutical company Merck and the other by the International Aids Vaccine Initiative.
The South African Aids Vaccine Initiative was established in 1999 as a lead programme of the Medical Research Council to develop an
affordable and effective HIV vaccine for southern Africa. SAAVI funds various SA research groups testing Aids vaccines.
Speaking on the 6th World Aids Vaccine Day, May 18 2003, SAAVI director Dr Tim Tucker said: “SAAVI has developed into a sophisticated national biotechnology consortium which operates at the cutting edge of international HIV vaccine development.
"The growth of the initiative has exceeded the expectations of stakeholders and participants, with SAAVI products now in manufacture; clinical trial sites ready to test products; community, ethical and human rights issues carefully considered; immunology testing facilities developed which rival the best in the world; and researchers occupying many senior international leadership positions.”
SouthAfrica.info reporter
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