AIDS vaccine to hit markets in 3 years: Kalam

Vaccines against AIDS being developed in India would be commercially available in 3-4 years, President said.

President APJ Abdul Kalam on Friday said vaccines against AIDS developed in India would be commercially available in three to four years.

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"Trial is already on and I am very sure the vaccine will be available in the market in three to four years time," Kalam said in Shillong.

Kalam, however, did not elaborate on the vaccine.

An official of the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) said the first phase of trials for the vaccine began this month at the National AIDS Research Institute at Pune.

"President Kalam and the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, which coordinates the global search for a vaccine, is supporting us in our efforts to develop the vaccine," the NACO official said requesting anonymity.

India is considered to be very advanced in biomedical research facilities, besides having a strong pharmaceutical industry that has developed cheap and effective AIDS drugs being exported across the globe.

The country has an estimated 5.1 million HIV-infected people, next only to South Africa.

Kalam spoke about the vaccine while addressing a two-day international conclave on "Combat HIV/AIDS: A Uniformed Intervention" organised by the Assam Rifles Wives Welfare Association.

The conclave assumes significance after army and paramilitary authorities in the northeast confirmed scores of soldiers in the region were struck by HIV, with promiscuous sex attributed as the main reason for contracting the deadly virus.

The Assam Rifles was the first to officially acknowledge the presence of a large number of troopers afflicted with HIV-AIDS, though other army and paramilitary units in the northeast are yet to come up with a formal assessment.

Lt Gen Bhoopinder Singh, Director General of Assam Rifles, said 40 troopers had died of AIDS and 139 were affected by the disease. The first HIV-positive Assam Rifles trooper was detected in 1992.

"All personnel of the Assam Rifles or other armed forces could be administered the vaccine once it is ready," said Kalam.

From Meghalaya, the President travels to Mizoram where he will address the state assembly on Saturday, besides interacting with students and teachers of Mizoram University.

Kalam is also expected to visit a village and interact with farmers, tribal villagers and primary school students.