HIV vaccine News

The WHO has approved the use of a new drug to prevent HIV. The drug is called Lenacapavir, and what makes it unique is that it only needs to be taken twice a year.

Researchers are in the process of discovering the factors responsible for the production of antibodies that do not just fight one virus strain, but neutralises almost all known virus strains.

When infected with the HIV virus, humans cannot produce the required antibodies to kill it, which is why an HIV vaccine has been a challenge to develop.

The molecule could one day become part of a successful HIV vaccine, the researchers said.

The new vaccine regimen -- called as "Ad26 mosaic" -- were well-tolerated and capable of generating anti-HIV immune responses in healthy HIV-negative adults.

Researchers believe such advances are necessary to stay ahead of a virus that can all too often develop resistance to medicines, despite the use since 1996 of three- or four-drug combinations that mean HIV/AIDS is no longer a death sentence.

It is believed that cows evolved a supreme immune defence due to their complex and bacteria-packed digestive system.

The new trial, to be conducted at 15 sites across South Africa, where more than 1,000 people become infected with HIV every day, aims to test whether it will provide greater and more sustained protection than the RV144 regimen.

A team of researchers from South Australia's University of Adelaide and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital have used a common cold virus to introduce their DNA-based vaccine into the immune system of laboratory mice.

The research, being carried out by five of Britain's top universities with NHS support, is combining standard antiretroviral drugs with a drug that reactivates dormant HIV and a vaccine that induces the immune system to destroy the infected cells.

Earlier studies have shown that long-term sex work does not always result in infection.