Early study shows AIDS-fighting gel promising

An experimental vaginal gel has shown some promise in preventing infection from the AIDS virus — the first study to offer hope that a microbicide may soon join the medical arsenal in the international battle against HIV, scientists announced Monday.

The results were not conclusive in this preliminary study, but they were welcome news considering the failure of other similar products. The multi-country study suggests a gel made by Massachusetts-based Indevus Pharmaceuticals Inc. cut HIV infection to a slight degree, a researcher said Monday at a medical conference...

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg2012696...nt-for-hiv.html?full=true

GeoVax Starts Injections for Phase 2a Human HIV/AIDS Vaccine Trial in USA

ATLANTA, Feb. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- GeoVax Labs, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: GOVX), an Atlanta-based, publicly traded biopharmaceutical company developing human vaccines for diseases caused by HIV-1 (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) and other infectious agents, announced the first injections in its Phase 2a Human Clinical Vaccine Trial for its candidate HIV/AIDS vaccine. The trial, designated HVTN 205, is being conducted by the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN). The HVTN, funded and supported by the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), is the largest worldwide clinical trials network dedicated to the development and testing of HIV/AIDS vaccines. The HVTN has sponsored over 80 Phase 1 trials for the initial evaluation of safety and immunogenicity of candidate HIV/AIDS vaccines. The results of these trials have merited only five phase 2a trials since 1992. Progressing to Phase 2 is a significant step for GeoVax. The Company is pleased to report that the first injections for the Phase 2a trial were conducted at the HVTN network sites at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, and Vanderbilt University, Nashville.
The trial will include a total of 225 volunteers (150 vaccine recipients and 75 placebo recipients) and take place at 13 HVTN sites: 11 in North America and 2 in South America. Sites in the United States include Emory University, Atlanta; Harvard Medical School, Boston; Vanderbilt University, Nashville; University of Rochester; Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle; the San Francisco Department of Public Health; University of Alabama, Birmingham and sites at Columbia University, Union Square, and the Bronx in New York City. In South America, participants are to be enrolled in Peru at sites in Iquitos and Miraflores (Lima).....

A heterosexist news?

I've read such news before, but not with such "better for heterosexuals" connotation. And most estrange: it comes from Scripps Research! It doesn't really make much sense.

A Simple Strategy Proves Effective in Pre-Clinical Trials
Donald Mosier, a professor of immunology at Scripps Research, and his lab team have announced the successful results of a pre-clinical study on a chemical called PSC-RANTES which could block heterosexual transmission of HIV. The chemical primarily targets a protein in the body called CCR5, the receptor on human cells to which HIV binds. During intercourse the virus attaches itself to CCR5 in cells within the walls of mucous membranes. Mosier and his research team hope to design a topical microbicide concentrated in PSC-RANTES that would prevent the virus from attaching to healthy cells. This would be a giant leap forward in helping worldwide efforts to put an end to the HIV epidemic.

link to the website: http://www.kintera.org/site/c.lgLOIZOCKlF/b.4...IVAIDS_Advances.htm#fight

Researchers progress toward AIDS vaccine

Rutgers AIDS researchers Gail Ferstandig Arnold and Eddy Arnold may have turned a corner in their search for a HIV vaccine. In a paper just published in the Journal of Virology, the husband and wife duo and their colleagues report on their research progress.

With the support of the National Institutes of Health, the Arnolds and their team have been able to take a piece of HIV that is involved with helping the virus enter cells, put it on the surface of a common cold virus, and then immunize animals with it. They found that the animals made antibodies that can stop an unusually diverse set of HIV isolates or varieties....