December 1st marks World AIDS Day 📅

While scientists have been working on a vaccine to prevent an HIV infection for many decades, not even one is available today 🌐. Will new vaccine and delivery technologies offer solutions? 

December 1st of each year marks World AIDS Day. This day was introduced as the first-ever global health day in 1988 [1]. World AIDS Day 2022 is being marked under the theme Equalize [2]. At IDEVAX we commemorate all the people whose lives were impacted during the AIDS epidemic and continues raising the flag of awareness about HIV and AIDS, and the fights against HIV stigma.  

On this World AIDS Day 📅, IDEVAX shares some 💡 information on HIV vaccine development, including the potential of a new vaccine platform and/or delivery technologies to offer solutions for HIV vaccination.  

Until this date, there is no prophylactic vaccine to prevent an HIV infection nor a therapeutic vaccine to treat HIV infection [3]. Currently, a global clinical trial Mosaico is being conducted by the National Institute of Health (NIH) to develop a secure and successful HIV vaccine. [3].  

Link to the ongoing Mosaico clinical study 👉 NIH and Partners to Launch HIV Vaccine Efficacy Trial in the Americas and Europe | NIH: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases 

History on HIV vaccine development takes us back to 2009, when the RV144 vaccine trial was completed. This clinical trial introduced the ALVAC-HIV and AIDSVAX B/E vaccine regimen as a safe and effective vaccine for HIV-1 [4,5]. While the results of this trial expressed only limited benefits, it has opened doors for the currently ongoing studies on developing an effective vaccine against HIV [4,5]. According to literature, this clinical trial is the only efficacy trial that expressed any level of protection up to now [6,7]. 

HIV vaccines currently in development are either virus vectored or protein subunits vaccines. Virus vectored vaccines have been found superior in eliciting cellular (CD8 T cells) and humoral immunity when compared to the protein subunits vaccines [7]. Both types are being tested in early phase clinical trials [7]. 

Intradermal vaccination could offer a promising alternative drug delivery technology as the dermal layer of the skin is rich in immune cells, meaning that introducing HIV vaccines in the skin could elicit cellular immunity. Also, the dose-sparing potential of ID vaccination is particularly attractive for use in mass vaccination campaigns, or for vaccines that are expensive or in short supply, as only 10 to 20% of a standard dose would be needed which could aid in maximizing the roll-out of an HIV vaccine at a global scale.  

Idevax’s VAX-ID®, an award-winning and patented intradermal drug delivery device, can offer solutions for both prophylactic as well therapeutic HIV vaccines as the device allows for standardized, accurate and reliable intradermal injection further maximizing on the dose-sparing capacity and elicited immune response of the dermal skin layer.