Merck & Co., a pharmaceutical plant that has abandoned the field of vaccine against HIV in the early 190s, is aggressively re-entering the arena. The company intends to launch two different vaccine testing before the end of the year, Science NOW has learned.
In 1980, Merck had a vaccine program against AIDS High profile Repligen, a Cambridge, Massachusetts biotechnology company. The project aimed to make a vaccine that stimulates the production of antibodies to HIV, preventing the virus from entering cells. But the strategy was ungrateful, and the effort died in 1994. Now, Merck is focusing on the other arm of the immune system: cell-mediated immunity, which rids the body of cells that the virus has already successfully infect
[Emilio Emini, a virologist who heads the Merck vaccine program, is sketchy on the plans, but says the company puts a lot of effort in the development of a vaccine against the so-called DNA. In this approach, the HIV genes stitched into a segment of DNA called a plasmid, which can infect cells and produce viral proteins. Merck is also developing a live virus vector, but defective Emini who refuses to discuss publicly. "One of the reasons we have kept a low profile is that we do not want to raise expectations," he said. "The probability of failure is quite high." Then again, he said, Merck puts a lot of resources in the project. "It is a great program for us." In its preliminary, Phase I vaccine trials, the company plans to rely on his own clinical trial system rather than on the vast network of test vaccine against AIDS run by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious diseases.
HIV vaccine researchers are much encouraged by the news of Merck's interest, some large pharmaceutical companies have shown interest in the continuation of this scientific challenge. "The more [players] we can get with good ideas, plus all the benefits on the ground," said Donald Burke, who heads clinical trials of HIV vaccines at Johns Hopkins. "The momentum is in less optimal time."
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