Merck, Aventis Begin Trials of Combo AIDS Vaccine

Drug makers Merck & Co. and Aventis said Wednesday they have begun human clinical trials of a novel combination AIDS vaccine. The trials hope to assess whether the addition of a vaccine made by Aventis to Merck's vaccine candidate will prove more effective than either alone. Merck began human testing of its HIV vaccines in late 1999. Merck's current candidate, known as the replication-defective adenovirus type 5 vector, is based on a modified common cold virus that is used to deliver an HIV gene into cells to produce a strong immune response to HIV. Aventis's Alvac HIV vaccine has been in development since 1992 and is a canarypox vector, which delivers HIV genes into cells. Earlier this year, the most advanced AIDS vaccine clinical trial, by Vaxgen Inc., reduced HIV infection rate by just 3.8 percent in 5,400 men and women considered at high risk. At least 30 other AIDS vaccines are in various stages of development.

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