Needle-Free Vaccine for HIV/AIDS

A new vaccine for HIV/AIDS, which is applied topically to the skin, is designed to complement and improve current therapies.

In a clinical study, the DermaVir vaccine demonstrated efficacy in boosting immune responses and controlling virus replication in monkeys chronically infected with HIV/AIDS. The treatment represents a new noninvasive option for human HIV/AIDS patients. Although the immune control is not permanent, data show that the antiviral activity of immune responses induced by DermaVir is significantly longer than that of existing antiviral drugs. Moreover, DermaVir may need to be re-adminstered only periodically, perhaps eight times a year, rather than daily.

Current antiretroviral therapies combine several mediations and are sometimes referred to as "cocktails.” Together, they work to prevent the virus from multiplying. DermaVir is different, inducing HIV-specific immune reconstitution rather than targeting the virus, and is applied to the skin, rather than orally or through injection. DermaVir has been shown to be more effective when combined with antiretroviral drugs, and does not have overlapping resistance of toxic characteristics that would otherwise compromise its effectiveness. Side effects, mainly skin irritation, are minimal.

"The immune system demonstrated an unexpected capacity for recovery after DermaVir vaccinations in these monkeys, some of which had already progressed to AIDS before starting treatment,” noted investigator Julianna Lisziewicz, Ph.D., scientific co-director and founder of the Research Institute for Genetic and Human Therapy (RIGHT, Washington, DC, USA and Pavia, Italy). The study was published in the January 6, 2005, issue of the Journal of Investigative Dermatology.