USA — Johnson & Johnson has announced that it was discontinuing a late-stage global trial of an HIV vaccine after it was discovered to be ineffective at preventing infections.

The failure of the trial is yet another setback in the search for a vaccine against a virus that is known to mutate quickly and find novel ways to evade the immune system.

The setback comes more than a year after another of J&J’s HIV vaccines failed a study in a population of young women in Sub-Saharan Africa.

According to J&J’s partner, the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN), the shot was only tested on people who refused pre-exposure prophylaxis – treatment to prevent infections.

The experimental vaccine regimen was based on “mosaic” immunogens—vaccine components featuring elements of multiple HIV subtypes—with the goal of inducing immune responses against a wide variety of global HIV strains.

The investigational vaccine regimen consisted of four injections over a year of Ad26.Mos4.HIV. This vaccine candidate uses a common-cold virus (adenovirus serotype 26, or Ad26) to deliver the mosaic immunogens.

It’s the latest setback in the search for a cure for the disease, which still kills 2,000 people in the United States each year despite the availability of highly effective drugs that allow people to live symptom-free and as long as if they didn’t have the virus.

Independent safety experts called for the trial to be halted after finding the same number of new HIV infections in those who received the vaccine as those who received a placebo.

The results were ‘disappointing,’ according to the researchers at the New Jersey-based company, but they were determined to find new treatments.

While no HIV vaccine has passed clinical trials, various drugs are used in high-risk populations and patients.

Meanwhile, HIV vaccine candidates from Moderna Inc, HVTN, and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) are currently being tested.

However, scientists believe that rather than a new method of delivering antigens, a new approach to triggering HIV protection may be required.

HIV has proven to be a difficult adversary for scientists because the virus’s antigens are constantly changing, making it difficult for the immune system to detect and combat.

There are currently nine HIV strains known, each of which divides into several sub-strains. Scientists are always discovering new ones.

However, there are highly effective drugs available, such as PrEP, which reduces the risk of contracting HIV by about 99 percent if someone is exposed to the virus while taking the drug.

Post-exposure prophylaxis is also available for people who have been exposed to HIV or believe they have been exposed. If taken consistently and correctly, it is about 80% effective at preventing infections.

With treatments that can suppress the virus to undetectable levels, the virus is no longer a death sentence for many people who have access to the medications.

Major global efforts have been mounted in recent decades to address the epidemic, and despite challenges, significant progress has been made in addressing HIV.

International efforts to combat HIV began in the first decade of the epidemic with the creation of the WHO’s Global Programme on AIDS in 1987.

The global community agreed to aim to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030 under Sustainable Development Goal 3, which is to “ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.”

Over time, new initiatives and financing mechanisms have helped increase attention to HIV and contributed to efforts to achieve the global goal.

However, while progress has been made, it has been uneven, and the interim “90-90-90” targets for 2020 were missed. The emphasis is now on meeting the “95-95-95” targets by 2025.

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