Vaccine hope for AIDS sufferers

HOPE of a major breakthrough in the fight against HIV and AIDS has emerged after a US pharmaceutical company claimed it may produce a working vaccine within the next five years.

California-based VaxGen revealed that its vaccine could be in widespread use by 2007 - over five years earlier than originally anticipated.

Details of the new vaccine, known as Aidsvax, were released at the 14th International Aids Conference, which opened in Barcelona yesterday before 16,000 delegates from around the world. “Aidsvax has a strong safety profile and induces an immune response in nearly everyone who receives it,” said a company spokesperson. However, VaxGen stressed that the drug would only act as a vaccine to prevent people contracting HIV rather than curing those already infected.