Within the past month, a major breakthrough in treating the HIV/AIDS epidemic has presented itself. After the recent testing of more than 16,000 volunteers in Thailand, the first somewhat successful results for an AIDS vaccine are here.
After three years of testing, researchers from the United States Army, the National Institute of Health, the Thai Ministry of Public Health and two vaccine companies still don’t know why the vaccine showed any positive results at all.
The men and women involved in the volunteer program were between the ages of 18 and 30 and collected from provinces around the capital, Bangkok, instead of from high-risk areas dominated by prostitutes and drug users. The initial findings for the success of the new drug were a 31 percent success rate compared to placebo tests. However, newer results indicate the numbers are closer to 26 percent.
The problem lies in the fact that while the coalition of researchers may dub the process ethical, there is still a problem with the testing in the sense that the majority of your subjects may not even utilize the injection they’ve been given, as they will be protected with the condoms.
Therefore, while the results are great, the test is far from optimal for testing the new drugs effective qualities.
While the numbers are still up in the air, the results available, while not astounding, are at least a step forward in halting the epidemic.
Since the early 1980s, the World Health Organization killing more than 25 million people has considered HIV and AIDS a pandemic. Now more than 25 years later, are major scientific breakthroughs have being found. The program has been in place in Thailand since 2003 and was looked upon as a waste of time and money by many according to the inconclusive results early. The drug, a combination of two vaccines working in tandem, now has been validated to actually weaken the infection of HIV in the body.
The breakthrough, while a major stepping-stone, has simply taken much too long to come about. Antiretroviral drugs, such as those taken by former Laker Magic Johnson, do a good job at combating the disease, but at the same time, the drugs are extremely expensive, making them nearly inaccessible to the majority of those affected with the disease.
This new vaccine may just be the answer that we have been looking to seek in years to finding the pathway to an affordable, easily accessible drug for the masses.