Southern States - Andhra Pradesh-Hyderabad   

AIDS vaccine need of the hour: Kodela

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD Dec. 11. The Medical and Health Minister, K. Sivaprasada Rao, on Wednesday stressed the need for development of vaccine for HIV/AIDS and cheaper drugs for treatment, despite challenges.

Inaugurating a consultative meeting of scientists, experts, Health department officials and NGOs on "The need for AIDS vaccine,'' Dr. Rao said developing a vaccine was indeed a difficult task, given the fact that the virus was a fast mutating type unlike the ones causing polio, smallpox and measles. The meeting was organised by the AP State AIDS Control Society and the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI).

After developing the vaccine, which might happen in the next two or three years, questions would be raised over human trials. Already representations over trials of other drugs had been sent to the National Human Rights Commission. Going by the trend, animal trials might also face opposition. Notwithstanding such problems, developing the vaccine should be the ultimate goal, and it should be done taking legal, human and financial aspects into consideration.

He said the State Government was committed to checking the spread of the HIV and prepared to spend as much as it was required. The State stood second in terms of incidence and there were four lakh HIV-positive persons. This number would go up soon and fast, if no remedial steps were taken.

Anjali Nayyar, Country Director, IAVI-India, said the key challenges in development of the vaccine included funding, community participation, ethical consideration, trial infrastructure and regulatory framework. The IAVI's mandate was to ensure development of safe, effective, accessible preventive vaccine for AIDS.

She said the meeting was part of the countrywide consultations on ways of creating a conducive situation for trials and introduction of vaccine. This was necessary in the light of the beginning of phase-I trials in 2004, of the research now under way at the National AIDS Research Institute at Pune. Subhadra Menon, coordinator, State-level programme of the IAVI-India, and K. Damayanthi, Project Director, APSACS, spoke.

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