Newswise — For the first time in seven years, an experimental HIV vaccine regimen will be tested in a large-scale clinical trial. The vaccine regimen, previously tested in a small clinical trial in South Africa, could lead to the first licensed vaccine against the virus that causes AIDS.

The trial is set to begin this November and will involve 5,400 HIV-uninfected men and women. It will test for efficacy, or whether the vaccine actually protects those who receive it from becoming infected with HIV. Results are expected by 2020.

Detailed information on the large vaccine trial and on the smaller one that preceded it is available here.

Both trials are funded by the National Institutes of Health and Infectious Diseases, or NIAID, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and conducted by the NIAID-funded HIV Vaccine Trials Network, which is headquartered at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Fred Hutch is home to the largest HIV vaccine trials network in the world.

Larry Corey, president and director emeritus of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and principal investigator for the HIV Vaccine Trials Network, is available for interviews. In an op-ed piece published yesterday, he and co-author David Baltimore addressed the common misperception that the “AIDS crisis is over,” and emphasized the critical need for a vaccine.

To arrange interviews, please email Mike Lewis at [email protected] or call 206-667-6651.