The first participant screenings are set to get underway soon for a first-in-Africa clinical trial of a messenger RNA (mRNA) HIV vaccine antigen.
Biotechnology company Moderna and non-profit scientific research organisation IAVI made the announcement on 18 May, confirming that the trial will build on progress made in previous HIV vaccine research.
It is set to take place at the Center for Family Health Research (CFHR) in Kigali, Rwanda, and The Aurum Institute in Tembisa, South Africa.
Findings released earlier this year showed that data from the Phase 1 clinical trial IAVI G001 safely induced the targeted immune response in 97% of people who were vaccinated with the HIV immunogen eOD-GT8 60mer as a recombinant protein.