"The first clinical trial of an HIV/AIDS vaccine designed and developed in South Africa was launched in Cape Town" Monday, the SAPA/The Times reports. The trial will seek to determine the immune response of HIV-negative people to two experimental vaccines - SAAVI DNA-C2 and SAAVI MVA-C (7/20). Similar tests of the vaccine began in the U.S. earlier this year, the AP/Washington Post reports. According to Anthony Mbewu, president of South Africa's government-supported Medical Research Council, the vaccine was designed at the University of Cape Town with technical help from the NIH, which also manufactured the vaccine (Faul, 7/20). Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, called the partnership between South Africa and the U.S. "the most important AIDS research partnership in the world," but cautioned the years ahead would prove challenging as researchers test the safety and efficacy of the HIV vaccine, the AP/Google.com reports (Faul, 7/20).
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