NIH begins clinical trial of three mRNA vaccines for HIV

Editor's Note

According to a March 14 news release from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) launched a Phase 1 clinical trial evaluating three experimental HIV vaccines using the messenger RNA (mRNA) technology. The mRNA technology being tested is the same used in some approved COVID-19 vaccines, including the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

The NIH is calling its Phase 1 clinical trial one of the first studies “to examine mRNA technology for HIV.” NIAID is sponsoring the study, called HVTN 302, and the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN), which is based in Seattle, Washington, and is funded by NIAID, is conducting the trial.

“Finding an HIV vaccine has proven to be a daunting scientific challenge,” Anthony S. Fauci, MD, NIAID director, said in the release. “With the success of safe and highly effective COVID-19 vaccines, we have an exciting opportunity to learn whether mRNA technology can achieve similar results against HIV infection.”

The specific mRNA sequences in the vaccines were developed by investigators at Scripps Consortium for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Development (CHAVD), also funded by NIAID, and at IAVI Neutralizing Antibody Center, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The development was done in collaboration with Moderna, which manufactured the investigational vaccines via a NIAID-supported contract. None of the three vaccine candidates can cause HIV infection.