The AIDS Vaccine Programme in India exists under the aegis of a memorandum of understanidng (MoU) beween the Ministry of Heatlh and Family Welfare through the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO), the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI).
India's political leadership, including the Hon'ble President of India, Shri APJ Abdul Kalam, has encouraged the cross-pollination of ideas and research form across the globe and emphasized the need to pursue multiple vaccine candidates to accelerate vaccine development. Several approaches are being explored within the AIDS Vaccine Programme.
A Phase I preventive AIDS vaccine trial was initiated at the Tuberculosis Research Centre (TRC) in Chennai in the beginning of 2006. The investigational vaccine candidate, TBC-M4, is designed to protect people who are not infected with HIV from contracting HIV/AIDS. The vaccine candidate consists of a recombinant Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA) targeting HIV-1 subtype C, the most predominant HIV subtype in India. All regulatory approvals for the MVA vaccine have been obtained prior to initiation of the Phase I clinical trial.
TRC has been developed as a global centre of excellence for clinical evaluation of AIDS vaccines in India. The Vaccine Trial Centre (VTC), established at TRC, includes a clinical facility, a data management unit and a state-of-the-art HIV immunology, virology and routine medical laboratory.
The VTC laboraroty staff has been trained in Good Laboratory Practices and laboratory techniques at the IAVI Core Laboratory in London, UK and at the National AIDS Research Institute (NARI) laboratory in Pune. The clinical trial staff has been trained in Good Clinical Practices by an expert team from the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. They have also undergone training in study operations and data management and have received sensitization on gender issues in AIDS vaccine clinical trials.
A preventive AIDS vaccine, an integral part of a comprehensive prevention strategy, is the best long term solution to blunting and ultimately ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic. India can play a leading role in the global search for a preventive AIDS vaccine. This search is not possible without the urgent and intense involvement of people and communities.
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