Thursday, September 24, 2009

Roll-out of the Thai trial results. 31.2% efficacy; p – 0.039. 16,000 in randomized trial in relatively low risk heterosexuals in Thailand. 74 infections in placebo, 51 infections in vaccines. Press ate it up. The usual suspects who wrote the 2004 Science letter criticizing my decision to fund the trial made comments either for attribution or “anonymously” that they were not impressed and probably thought that it was a fluke (John Moore, Ronald Desrosiers, etc.) I was very reserved in putting it into perspective as this not at all being the “end game”, but an important start since this was the first time in over 2 decades that we have gotten even the slightest positive signal in any HIV/AIDS vaccine. The lack of major immune parameters, i.e. neutralizing abs and CTLs tell me what I suspected all along that we are probably not looking at the right measures of immunity. Of note the vaccine had no effect on viral load of those that did get infected. Since this was not H1N1 and since Jenny Backus probably does not even know what HIV is, I was given blanket clearance for the Press. I had the most media exposure that I have had since the anthrax situation. Front page or prominent coverage in all major print media (NY Times, Wash Post, AP, Reuters, etc. Also, prominent appearances on every TV outlet – NBC Nightly News with Bob Bazell, CBS Evening News; ABC World News Tonight, Wolf Blitzer Situation Room on CNN; Fox News; Canadian TV; BBC; Bloomberg; World News with Katty Kay; Radio – NPR – All Things Considered; WTOP