Johnson & Johnson ends trial for HIV vaccine after data show it is ineffective
Abigail Adcox
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Johnson & Johnson said Wednesday that it has ended a late-stage trial for its experimental HIV vaccine after data showed the shot was ineffective at preventing infections.
The experimental HIV vaccine that was tested among gay men and transgender people was found to be safe but offered no additional protection against HIV infection compared to a placebo, an independent data and safety monitoring board determined.
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“For our research partners and others who have waged a decadeslong effort to develop vaccines to end the HIV/AIDS pandemic, these results are disappointing,” said Susan Buchbinder, co-chairwoman of the clinical trial, known as the Mosaico study. “Although HIV continues to prove uniquely challenging for development of a vaccine, the HIV research community remains fully committed to doing just that, and each study brings us a step closer to this realization.”
The global clinical trial recruited nearly 4,000 volunteers from 18 to 60 years old in Europe, North America, and South America and received funding support from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Researchers had hoped the vaccine could provide broad protection against a variety of HIV strains, using the same antigen delivery system that Johnson & Johnson uses in its COVID-19 vaccine. Its failure is the latest in a field of research that has been wrought with setbacks.
In 2021, a similar vaccine regimen sponsored by Johnson & Johnson and others was found to be ineffective in protecting against HIV infection in a trial in sub-Saharan Africa among young women. Other vaccine candidates being developed by Moderna, NIAID, and the HIV Vaccine Trials Network are still being tested.
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The World Health Organization said that HIV continues to be a “major global public health issue” that has no cure, though access to treatments, diagnoses, and care has gone up. In 2021, 650,000 people died from HIV-related causes, and 1.5 million people acquired HIV.