Moderna Set to Evaluate mRNA Vaccines for HIV
Moderna is launching a safety, tolerability and immunogenicity study of two messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines against the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
The study is a significant first step in the development of vaccines against HIV, which is a more complex virus than the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
The early-phase study will be conducted in 56 healthy adults who are not infected with the virus, according to documents filed at ClinicalTrials.gov.
Dubbed mRNA-1644 and mRNA-1644v2-Core, the vaccines will test whether a priming dose followed by boosters can induce B-cell responses to the vaccine’s HIV protein strands. The hope is to generate broadly neutralizing antibodies against the virus that attach to its protein spikes before it can infect cells.