Moderna is scheduled to begin trials in humans for its experimental HIV mRNA vaccine as early as Thursday, the first time that trial has been conducted.
The big picture: “There is an urgent need for new ways to prevent virus infection such as HIV and the flu that conventional vaccines have struggled to address and treat rare genetic diseases and cancers that kill millions each year,” writes Alison Snyder, of Axios. “Vaccines and messenger RNA (mRNA) -based therapies are promising as a solution.”
Details: To participate in the trial, participants must be between 18 and 50 years old and undiagnosed with HIV. Modern says it is looking for 56 participants.
What they say: “While we have shown that our mRNA-based vaccine can prevent Covid-19, this has encouraged us to pursue more ambitious development programs within our prophylactic vaccine modality,” Moderna said in January, Stéphane Bancel, when the company announced the vaccine. , by Clinical Trials Arena.
In depth: COVID-19 provides a new target for messenger RNA vaccines