Subject: NIH Starts Safety Trials Of HIV Vaccine for Young
Date: Published: 3/30/93 (31 lines)
Source: Wall Street Journal. Copyright Dow Jones & Co. Inc.

    NIH Starts Safety Trials
    Of HIV Vaccine for Young

    WASHINGTON -- The National Institutes of Health said it launched
 the first trial of experimental HIV vaccines in children who are
 infected with the human immunodeficiency virus that causes acquired
 immune deficiency syndrome.
    The safety trial, which is enrolling children aged one month to
 12 years, is the first step in determining whether a therapeutic
 vaccine can delay the onset of AIDS in infected children.  The
 vaccines are made by Chiron Corp. 's Biocine joint venture with
 Ciba-Geigy, in Emeryville, Calif.; Genentech Inc. of South San
 Francisco, Calif.; and MicroGeneSys Inc. of Meriden, Conn.
    Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala called the
 study "a hopeful milestone in our efforts to ameliorate the tragedy
 of HIV-infected children who now face the certainty that they will
 develop AIDS."
    Separately, NIH confirmed that MicroGeneSys withdrew from a
 similar three-way therapeutic vaccine trial in adults due to a
 disagreement over study design.  The company last fall provoked a
 controversy by lobbying Congress to allocate $20 million for a
 Defense Department study of its product alone.

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