The HIV vaccine candidate developed by Johnson & Johnson failed in phase 3 clinical trials conducted since 2019. The test, named Mosaico, was tested on 3,900 male participants in Africa, the United States, South America, and Europe. After the study data were collected, no difference in HIV infection was detected between the groups receiving the vaccine and those taking the placebo.
The failure of this HIV test has disappointed researchers who have been testing to find a vaccine for this disease for more than a decade. Two previous trials of Uhambo and Imbokodo vaccine candidates also failed.
But the search for an HIV vaccine now continues as it is developed through mRNA technology that has proven to be effective in the war against the Covid-19 pandemic. Last year, for example, Moderna began clinical trials of their HIV vaccine candidate on humans.
In the first phase, 100 healthy participants will receive three doses of the vaccine over a six-month period. Moderna scientists will then monitor the participants for 10 months to see if the vaccine has any negative effects on the body. The body will be instructed to train immune naive B cells to produce broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs).
The results of this test will only be announced in the middle of this year. Although the epidemic of HIV infection has been successfully controlled and is no longer seen as a killer disease, vaccines are still being developed because prevention is better than cure.