Second phase of AIDS vaccine trials completed under international project

The National AIDS Research Institute (NARI) has already completed  two phases of trials on the first HIV vaccine candidate and now the  results are being evaluated, as part of an international collaborative  project involving the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI). Under the project, the first HIV vaccine trial was conducted at NARI,  Pune using Adeno-Associated Virus (AAV) based HIV-1 subtype  C vaccine candidate and the second trial was completed at the  Tuberculosis Research Centre (TRC), Chennai, official sources said.  Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA) based vaccine and the results of the  two trials are under evaluation now.There is a tripartite agreement  between the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the National  AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) and the International AIDS Vaccine  Initiative (IAVI) for carrying out HIV/AIDS vaccine research in India.  The first agreement was signed in year 2000 and was extended further  in 2005. The vaccine development agreement between IAVI and ICMR  for the development and testing of the vaccines and tripartite agreement  between NACO (GOI), ICMR, and IAVI would end by the end of this year. As per the HIV estimations 2010, India is estimated to have 23.9 lakh  people infected with HIV in 2009 at an estimated adult HIV prevalence  of 0.31 per cent. Adult HIV prevalence among men is 0.36 per cent,  while among women, it is 0.25 per cent. NACO under National AIDS  Control Programme Phase – III has developed a communication strategy  to create awareness about HIV/AIDS and promote safe behaviours,  sources added.Under the NACP-III, the government had released Rs.623.85 crore during 2007-08 and Rs.653.01 crore during 2008-09.  The financial assistance by way of reimbursement slightly went up to  Rs.662.52 crore during 2009-10. This year upto middle of November,  the Centre released Rs.211.62 crore. Source:Phramabiz