Johnson & Johnson said on Wednesday (January 18) that it was pulling the plug on a late-stage global trial of an HIV vaccine after the shot was found ineffective
at preventing infections.
The failure of the trial marks yet another setback in the search for a vaccine against a virus known to mutate rapidly and find unique ways to evade the immune
system, and comes more than a year after another of J&J's HIV vaccine failed a study.
"It's not the outcome we had hoped for, unfortunately," said a spokesperson for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a J&J partner in the trial.
"The development of a safe and effective HIV vaccine has been a considerable scientific challenge, but we will learn from this study and continue forward."
The trial involved administering two different types of a shot, which uses a cold-causing virus to deliver the genetic code of HIV, spread over four vaccination
visits in a year. J&J used similar technology for its COVID-19 vaccine.
The study, which began in 2019, was conducted at over 50 sites and included about 3,900 gay men and transgender people - groups that are considered vulnerable to
the infection.