Success in AIDS vaccine testing

Italian experts are planning to launch large-scale human testing of a vaccine after initial results proved its safety.

Scientists in Italy are planning to launch large-scale human testing of an AIDS vaccine after initial results have shown that it is safe, well tolerated and capable of stimulating a patient's immune system.

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Barbara Ensoli of the Istituto Superiore Di Sanita (ISS) said she was in talks with both public and private investors to find the necessary funds needed to test her vaccine on hundreds of volunteers in Italy and Africa.

"We are looking for around €50 million ($60 million)," Ensoli said.

The vaccine has so far been successfully tested on 47 volunteers - 27 of whom were HIV positive - in four different clinics in Italy.

"Our data allows us to state that the vaccine is safe and well tolerated," Ensoli said in a statement. "In all cases we have found a response from the immune system, both among the healthy and the HIV-positive subjects."

Unlike other vaccines currently being tested worldwide, the Italian one focuses on a protein called TAT and which plays an essential role in the virus' replication.

Phase two of the testing, which will focus on the effectiveness of the vaccine, is likely to conclude by 2010.