Researchers announced Mosaico, the only vaccine for HIV in late-stage clinical trials, has failed, a stunning defeat in the effort to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS around the globe, NBC News reports.
Developed in a private-public partnership between the US government and Flemish pharmaceutical company Janssen, the effort united scientists and government programs to develop and test the drug, which was in a trial involving 3,900 men from eight European countries who have sex with men and trans people, the group most likely to contract HIV.
Initial reviews appeared to show Mosaico reducing the rate of HIV transmission. However, a review of the data in the latest clinical test by an independent medical research firm found the drug did not significantly impact the rate of HIV transmission.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the recently-retired head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases which participated in the research, said Mosaico and another similar drug, Imbokodo, use modified cold viruses to deliver mosaic immunogens, which were designed to trigger an autoimmune response to produce antibodies that would fight off HIV infection. Fauci said that while the drug did set off production of antibodies, they were what are known as non-neutralizing antibodies, not the “neutralizing” kind that kill viruses.