India set to make headway in HIV vaccine research

[Guest guest]

India set to make headway in HIV vaccine research

Kalyan Ray, New Delhi, Feb 23, DH News Service:

With the global search for a HIV vaccine nowhere close to realisation, India is

all set to contribute in a major way in research by setting up a

state-of-the-art research laboratory.

To be established by the Translational Health Sciences and Technology Institute

under the Department of Biotechnology in partnership with International AIDS

Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), the laboratory will be located in Faridabad.

The institute will have up to 40-50 staff with close to 10 scientists pursuing

various avenues to find out a candidate HIV vaccine, sources told Deccan Herald.

The research aims to understand the biological processes connected to the HIV

infection to design a novel vaccine. The focus will be on the subtype-C of HIV

found in India predominantly. Over the last two decades, more than 30 vaccine

candidates against HIV was tested worldwide, including two in India. None had

come even close to the commercialsation stage as the virus seemed to have more

tricks under its sleeve than what the scientists thought.

Despite a vast array of candidate vaccines tested in clinical trials, only four

had reached the clinical efficacy stage before 2009 and all had resulted in

unsatisfactory outcomes.This opens up scope for trying out new strategies and

test new candidate, which will be done at Faridabad centre using high-throughput

screenings.

One strategy would be designing new antigens that will induce neutralising

antibodies against the virus. Though this remained one of the major focus areas

in AIDS vaccine research, there is not much success till date. IAVI funds

projects on AIDS vaccines at Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore and

International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, here. But once

the new laboratory is in place, it will have stronger linkage with Indian

scientific community to explore new routes.

The chief executive officer of IAVI, Seth Berkley visited India earlier this

month when he met key Indian policy makers and Parliamentarians to discuss how

the process can be taken forward. IAVI insisted on establishing a long-term

translational research programme with adequate funding to bring a HIV vaccine

closer to reality.

On the cards

*The Translational Health Sciences and Technology Institute jointly with

International AIDS Vaccine Initiative to set up research centre.

*The institute to have up to 40-50 staff with nearly 10 scientists.

*Focus of research will be on the subtype-C of HIV.

*More than 30 vaccine candidates against HIV was tested worldwide, including two

in India.

*Only four vaccine candidates reached the clinical efficacy stage before 2009

with unsatisfactory outcomes

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/140574/india-set-make-headway-hiv.html