Johnson & Johnson says potential HIV vaccine does not provide protection against the virus in a study of young women in sub-Saharan Africa
A possible HIV vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson did not provide protection against the virus in a mid-stage study, the drug maker said Tuesday.
J&J plans to complete this study, which involved young women from sub-Saharan Africa. But researchers will continue an independent final-phase trial that includes a different composition of the vaccine in trans men and people.
The study in sub-Saharan Africa included about 2,600 women who were thought to be at high risk of acquiring HIV, which causes AIDS. Participants were randomly selected to receive the vaccine or a placebo, and the researchers found that the vaccine was only 25% effective in preventing HIV.
“HIV is a unique and complex virus that has long posed unprecedented challenges to vaccine development because of its ability to attack, sequester, and evade the human immune system,” said Dr. Paul Stoffels, scientific director of J&J, in a statement.
J&J said his other study on the potential vaccine is being conducted in Europe and the Americas, where different strains of HIV are circulating.
Johnson & Johnson, based in New Brunswick, New Jersey, also manufactures one of three vaccines approved by U.S. regulators for the prevention of COVID-19. J&J is also developing vaccines against sepsis and respiratory syncytial virus.