HIV Vaccine Reported To Be Successful in Trials by Canadian University.

Researchers at the University of Western Ontario recently completed Phase 1 human trials of a new preventative HIV vaccine, and the results give hope that they may be on track towards a commercially available vaccine that will protect against HIV.

The vaccine, called SAV001-H, was developed by Dr. Chil-Yong Kang and his team at Western University's Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry. So far, SAV001-H is unique in being the only preventative vaccine to use a genetically-modified version of the whole virus (similar to vaccines for polio, influenza and rabies, to name a few).

"We infect the cells with a genetically modified HIV-1," Kang said in an interview with Ontario Business Report. "The infected cells produce lots of virus, which we collect, purify and inactivate so that the vaccine won’t cause AIDS in recipients, but will trigger immune responses."