Kenyan HIV/AIDS Vaccine Candidate Fails

A team of researchers from the University of Oxford, UK, have terminated development of a potential vaccine for HIV/AIDS. The programme, which has cost roughly KES1bn (US$13mn), was based on high levels of resistance to the retrovirus among sex workers in the Majengo slum in Nairobi, Kenya.

The research team has now reported that efforts to improve the prospective vaccine's efficacy by increasing dosages have failed. The multiyear project's co-sponsor, the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, will now refocus on other potential vaccines that are reportedly "in the pipeline."

However, the Oxford team's decision marks the end of what was previously seen as a promising line of investigation. Many of the women involved in the study had developed killer T-cells capable of resisting the spread of HIV within the body. Meanwhile, local researchers are reported to be in "advanced" discussions on another candidate with the US National Institutes of Health.