Moderna and IVAI Begins Trail for mRNA HIV Vaccine

Moderna and IVAI announced that they administered the first dose of its mRNA experimental HIV vaccine to volunteers in a clinical trial.

On January 27, Moderna said via Twitter, “We are proud to announce that the first participant has been dosed in the Phase 1 study of mRNA-1644.” 

Moderna has been working on the vaccine in partnership with the International AIDS Vaccine  Initiative (IAVI), as well as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Scripps Research. 

“We are tremendously excited to be advancing this new direction in HIV vaccine design with Moderna’s mRAN platform,” Mark Feinberg, president and CEO of IAVI, says in a statement. “The search for an HIV vaccine has been long and challenging, and having new tools in terms of immunogens and platforms could be the key to making rapid progress toward an urgently needed, effective HIV vaccine.” 

Stephen Hoge, president of Moderna also says, “We believe that mRNA offers a unique opportunity to address critical, unmet public health needs around the world.” 

The technology has proven to be highly effective at producing immune responses and could be a new key targeting HIV, which has long evaded vaccine technology because it mutates so quickly. Unlike other vaccines, those made with mRNA technology allow scientists to target multiple variants, reported LGBTQNation.

According to a press release by IVAI, the first doses have been administered in a clinical trial of experimental HIV vaccine antigens at George Washington University (GWU) School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington, D.C. 

The research will monitor 56 HIV-negative adults for six months in the Phase 1 where scientists will be studying the safety and efficacy of the vaccine. 48 volunteers will receive at least one dose of the vaccine; 32 will also receive the booster, and the remaining eight will receive the booster vaccine alone. 

The new vaccines uses the same groundbreaking mRA technology that was used in both Moderna and Pfizer to create the COVID-19 vaccines.