With the first dose given at the Center for Family Health Research in Zambia (CFHRZ), in Lusaka, Zambia, the trial will extend to sites in Kenya and Uganda in the coming weeks. Dr. William Kilembe, project director of CFHRZ and trial principal investigator, said: ‘International partnerships are crucial in developing and evaluating HIV vaccine candidates in countries and communities where HIV vaccines will ultimately have the greatest public health impact. While most HIV vaccine candidates work by inducing antibodies generated by B-cells, HIVconsvX induces the immune system’s potent, pathogen obliterating T cells, targeting them to highly conserved and therefore vulnerable regions of HIV – an “Achilles heel” common to most HIV variants. Dr. Vincent Muturi-Kioi, medical director at IAVI, said: ‘It is crucial that we have a diverse pipeline of HIV vaccine candidates that target both the antibody and T-cell arms of the immune system. ‘This is why it remains a priority that we design and evaluate novel vaccine approaches such as HIVconsvX.’The researchers hope to be able to report results of the HIV-CORE 006 trial at the end of 2022.
