HIV vaccine clinical trials to date

Editor’s note: Dr. Chil-Yong Kang of Western’s Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry joined the Reddit community on Friday, Sept. 6, answering questions about the Phase I clinical trial of the Sumagen AIDS vaccine as part of Ask Me Anything (AMA).

Photo by Paul Mayne
Developed by Dr. Chil-Yong Kang and his team at the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, with the support of Sumagen Canada, the first and only preventative HIV vaccine based on a genetically modified killed whole virus (SAV001-H) holds tremendous promise for success in the final phases of clinical testing now that the first hurdle has been accomplished.

Phase I Clinical Trial (SAV CT 01) of the first and only preventative HIV vaccine based on a genetically modified killed whole virus (SAV001-H) has been successfully completed with no adverse effects in all patients, Western and Sumagen Canada Inc. announced today.

Developed by Dr. Chil-Yong Kang and his team at the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, with the support of Sumagen Canada, the vaccine (SAV001-H) holds tremendous promise for success in the final phases of clinical testing now that the first hurdle has been accomplished. It is the only HIV vaccine developed in Canada currently in clinical trial, and one of only a few in the world.

This vaccine is the first genetically modified killed whole virus vaccine (SAV001-H) in human clinical trial to evaluate its safety, tolerability and immune responses. The human clinical trial was initiated in March 2012 and completed in August 2013. This trial was a randomized, observer-blinded, placebo-controlled study of killed whole HIV-1 vaccine (SAV001-H) following intramuscular (IM) administration. HIV-infected, asymptomatic men and women, 18-50 years of age, have been enrolled in this study and randomized into two treatment groups to administer killed whole HIV-1 vaccine (SAV001-H) or placebo.