Project WISH, a research group that operates out of the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Center, has announced that they are actively searching for candidates to participate in a new HIV vaccine study that will begin testing shortly.
Project WISH is looking to test eventually 80 participants and is putting specific emphasis on attracting HIV negative African-American and Latino gay males.
Called HVTN ( HIV Vaccine Trials Network ) 505, the study will be part of a national effort by the network to test a new preventative vaccine that could slow the progression of the HIV virus.
"This study is not looking at how to prevent HIV, but how to slow the virus's growth," stated Dr. Richard Novak, Project WISH's principal investigator for the HVTN 505 study. "This is not a unique concept in vaccines; actually the polio vaccine works in the same way. The polio vaccine doesn't stop someone from becoming infected it just prevents them from getting sick from the disease and it is our hope that this study will show the same can be done with HIV."
The vaccine works by employing a so-called "prime-boost approach" which incorporates two different vaccines working in tandem to increase the amount of anti-bodies and overall bodily reaction to the HIV virus. This would theoretically decrease the viral load, a measurement of the severity of a viral infection, which would in turn slow the development of the HIV virus.
This new study comes in the wake of the failed STEP study, a vaccine trial that was abandoned after it was unable to effectively lower the viral loads in its participants.
The STEP study received some unwanted attention following its demise when initially the HVTN reported that some of the study's data suggested that the vaccine "might have an increased susceptibility to acquiring HIV infection."
However, Novak explained that the negative effects of the STEP study vaccine eventually "washed out" and that the HVTN 505 study will have added precautions to decrease the risk of the same problem reoccurring.
"We do not want to take any chances in taking people that are at an increased risk or may develop an increased risk from the vaccine with our study," Novak said. "We are taking what we learned from the STEP study and applying it to our precautions with the 505 study."
The HVTN 505 study also follows the controversial GeoVax trials, a study that encountered heavy resistances from the HIV community when it was purposed that it would operate out of the Ruth M. Rothstein CORE Center. A situation that boiled over Aug. 25 when CORE Center supporters protested Cook County Board President Todd Stroger for his decision to push for the trial at a town hall meeting held at the Center on Halstead.
Project WISH officials assure, however, that the GeoVax trial is very different from their upcoming study, stating that the 505 vaccine is not a therapeutic one designed for already HIV infected individuals, like the one used in the GeoVax study, and therefore does not require any HIV infected individuals to stop taking their medication, a major issue held by many opponents of the GeoVax trial.
"The 505 study is very different than the GeoVax proposal," stated Project WISH research coordinator Justin Franz. "Because of this we are confident that the community as a whole will receive this vaccine study with a much better light than the GeoVax trial at the CORE Center did."
In order to help avoid the problems that darkened the GeoVax trial, efforts have been made by Project WISH to keep the Chicago community informed about the HVTN 505 study through monthly meetings with a community advisory board. A teleconference has also been purposed for September 29, where further community outreach events, such as a town hall meeting, will be discussed.
In spite of the recent negativity surrounding some HIV vaccine studies, Novak is still confident that Chicago will ultimately support the HVTN 505 study.
"There is some skepticism out there that a HIV vaccine will not work, but I have to believe this is an iterative process," stated Novak. "Through rounds of analysis we gain more knowledge of how to prevent HIV and the 505 study is the next step in this process. I think Chicago understands this and will appreciate the study."
Advertising for the study is already underway, with announcements slated to appear soon in bars, popular entertainment hangouts and on the CTA Red Line.
For more information, visit www.hopetakesaction.org or call 312-413-5897.
