Preventive HIV Vaccines

Clinical Trials of Preventive HIV Vaccines
Currently, there are no approved preventive vaccines for HIV infection. Since the first HIV vaccine trial opened in 1987, researchers have studied more than 50 different preventive vaccine candidates in more than 100 NIAID-funded clinical trials.

The first HIV vaccine clinical trial opened in August 1987 at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. This Phase I trial enrolled 138 healthy, uninfected volunteers. The gp160 subunit candidate vaccine tested caused no serious adverse effects.

Six months later, the NIAID AIDS Vaccine Evaluation Group (AVEG), the first U.S. cooperative HIV vaccine clinical trials group, began enrolling volunteers in its first trial.
In December 1992, NIAID launched its first Phase II HIV vaccine clinical trial.

This trial included uninfected volunteers with a history of high-risk behavior-injection drug use, multiple sex partners, or sexually transmitted infections. Participants were counseled repeatedly to avoid any behaviors that put them at risk of HIV infection.

Created in May 2000, the NIAID-funded HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN) is a network of clinical sites in the United States and abroad dedicated to developing a preventive HIV vaccine by testing and evaluating candidate vaccines in all phases of clinical trials.

The network includes more than 25 sites in the United States, Africa, Asia, South America, and the Caribbean. HVTN's global capacity allows for rapid expansion as more vaccine candidates enter the pipeline for testing and development, and for carrying out large-scale studies of suitable vaccines.

HVTN built upon the many accomplishments of the HIV Prevention Trials Network and AVEG, two former NIAID networks that conducted preparedness and HIV vaccine studies. Scientific creativity, along with collaboration among private industry, academia, and government, are key aspects of HVTN's design.

In addition, NIAID's Dale and Betty Bumpers Vaccine Research Center (VRC) conducts research that facilitates the development of effective vaccines for human disease, with the primary focus of research being the development of vaccines for AIDS. Established in 1997 by former President Bill Clinton as part of an initiative to develop an AIDS vaccine and located in Bethesda,

VRC develops and tests vaccine candidates in all phases of clinical testing.
VRC works with scientists in academic, clinical, and industrial laboratories through a program of national and international collaborations. The center actively seeks industrial partners for the development, efficacy testing, and marketing of vaccines, and focuses on the development of new methodologies and training opportunities that will benefit all HIV vaccine researchers.