800 volunteers needed for AIDS vaccine trials

Found on Xinhua on Saturday, 19 August 2006
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At least 800 volunteers will be needed for China's second and third phases of AIDS vaccine trials, health officials said Friday.

The second phase of clinical trials of China's AIDS vaccine would need at least 300 volunteers and the third phase at least 500, said Sang Guowei, director of the National Institute for the Control of Pharmaceutical and Biological Products.

The first phase of clinical trials indicates China's first AIDS vaccine is safe and possibly effective, government officials announced at the press conference after a two-month-odd assessment.

"Forty-nine healthy people who received the injection showed no severe adverse reactions after 180 days, proving the vaccine was safe," said Zhang Wei, head of the pharmaceutical registration department of the SFDA.

"The recipients appeared immune to the HIV-1 virus 15 days after the injection, indicating the vaccine worked well in stimulating the body's immunity," he told the press conference.

Now that are good news. After all those years of research, it finally looks like AIDS will loose its threat.