AFTER a string of failed clinical trials, the HIV vaccine is going back to the drawing board.
鈥淲e were maybe on the wrong track,鈥� said Anthony Fauci, director of the US , in a podcast produced by Science. In the journal, Fauci outlined NIAID鈥檚 plan to shift HIV resources away from clinical trials and back towards fundamental questions (Science, vol 321, p 530).
His report follows the cancellation on 17 July of a plan to test the latest generation of HIV vaccine on more than 8500 people. They were to be injected with viruses carrying harmless HIV genes, designed to prime an immune response to HIV-infected cells. A similar vaccine tested in 2007 was largely ineffective and actually increased the odds of infection in people who had just recovered from a cold.
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