Researcher hopeful Aids vaccine will be found soon

By KENFREY KIBERENGE

A Kenyan doctor who wrote a thesis on the first ever genetic Aids vaccine to go on trial says the virus would one day be brought under control.

Dr Matilu Mwau grabbed international headlines 10 years ago as a PhD student in the United Kingdom when the research group he was working for launched the vaccine trial in humans.

He says that a combination of factors, including treatment, sustained preventative measures, and the use of an effective vaccine will tame the virus ending years of misery for the human race.

Due to the keen interest that scientists have on the virus, and tremendous amounts of knowledge accumulated over the years, the world will continue to come up with better and more powerful antiretroviral products, Mwau says.

Dr Mwatilu Mwau says the future looks promising in the eradication of the AIDS pandemic. [PICTURE: JENIPHER WACHIE]

And it is only a matter of time before an effective vaccine is discovered, he adds. However, he argues that a vaccine similar to the ones for measles, typhoid, small pox or polio, which work by stimulating antibody responses, will likely not be the panacea for HIV. Instead, an effective vaccine for HIV will need not only to stimulate neutralising antibody responses, but also specific cell mediated immune responses as well.

In 2007, the failure of a vaccine in clinical trials by the pharmaceutical giant Merck sent a wave of pessimism crashing over researchers. Considered at the time the most promising candidate for a successful Aids vaccine, its failure — and some evidence that it might have actually increased the risk of contracting HIV — left researchers scratching their heads. Three years later, in September last year, there was a glimmer of hope when Thai researchers and US unveiled the results of the biggest vaccine trial ever. Tested among more than 16,000 Thais, shots of ALVAC and AidsVAX vaccines offered 31.2-per cent protection against the risk of infection.

Mwau’s sentiments before the World Aids Day, marked on Wednesday, and on the week that some researchers said they had discovered a daily pill that cuts the risk of catching the infection by up to 90 per cent.

HIV/Aids experts and advocacy groups hailed the results of a three-year study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, as a breakthrough in the global fight against the deadly virus. It combines two antiretroviral drugs, emtricitabine and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, into a single pill, and has been used to treat HIV since 2002.

Among the men who got the placebo, 64 contracted HIV in the three years of the study. The group had 36 HIV infections, but two of those predated the study and in 31 of the 34 others, the men did not have the drug in their blood, suggesting they had not taken the pills. Researchers hailed this a 90 per cent success rate in staving off HIV. In the US, the drug, Truvada, sells for about $1,000 (Sh80,000) a month.

While a PhD student at Oxford University in the United Kingdom, Mwau wrote the thesis titled: Clinical Evaluation of a Candidate HIV-1 Clade A DNA/MVA Vaccine Designed for Kenya.

He studied the safety and immunogenicity of the genetic vaccine produced by Oxford University scientists.

There are about 86 products in ongoing clinical vaccine trials.

But, the world is still waiting for a vaccine against the disease that has so far killed 25 million and infected 33 million people globally, although there are ARVs that prolong lives.

Mwau, who heads the Centre for Infectious and Parasitic Disease Control and Research at the Kenya Medical Research Institute in Busia, says the future looks promising in the eradication of the pandemic.

The concerted efforts by people throughout the world to avoid contracting the virus will be one of the main contributors towards that course.

"The efforts, which include being faithful to one HIV negative partner, the use of condoms, abstinence, circumcision and early infant testing and treatment have all worked greatly in Kenya," he says.

He also predicts that there is a possibility the virus would become weaker over the years.

"When the influenza virus came, it killed millions in the 1918 pandemic. Today, the virus causes a simple flu that is treatable even at home," he says.