remembering veterans on campus - The Ontarion

169.11 ◆ november 15th, 2012
news 3
Positive news in search for an HIV vaccine
Researchers at
Western University
closer to a
preventative solution
Jordan Sloggett
Ongoing research at Western University
has produced exciting results
concerning a clinical trial for a vaccine
to prevent the transmission of HIV.
On Nov. 5, researchers at the
Siebens Drake Research Institute
at Western University announced
that the first phase in the human
clinical trials for the vaccine called
SAV001-H had gone remarkably well.
The vaccine was developed by Dr. Chil-
Yong Kang and his team of researchers
through a joint effort between Sumagen
Canada and Western University.
Dr. Kang is a professor of virology
at Western University’s Schulich
School of Medicine and Densitry.
Sumagen Canada is located in
The Stiller Centre for Technology
Commercialization in Western
University’s Research Park in London,
Ontario. It is a subsidiary of a
Korean-based pharmaceutical venture
company and was established
in 2008 to manage and support
the development of the vaccine.
The first phase of clinical trials involved
administering the vaccine to
those who are already HIV positive,
to determine if the vaccine causes any
adverse immune responses. Phase
I was partially funded by Industrial
Research Assistant Program of the National
Research Council of Canada and
had been running since March 2012.
“Phase I was the biggest hurdle,”
said Dr. Kang. Phase II is set to
begin next year and will be carried
out in Canada, the United States
and various European countries.
Dong Joon Kim, a spokesperson for
Sumagen Canada, announced at a
press conference that “There have
After many years of research, a vaccine for HIV has finally been discovered at Western.
been no adverse effects and immunological
responses to date.”
“This is a very important milestone
for us. It has given Sumagen Canada
great encouragement to proceed on
our long journey to reach the final
goal for all humankind,” Kim added.
Since the AIDS-causing virus was first
characterized in 1983 more than 28
million people have died from HIV/
AIDS, and more than 34 million live
with the viral infection. According to
the Public Health Agency of Canada,
youth between the ages of 15 and 29
accounted for 26 per cent of all positive
HIV test reports.
These positive results have demonstrated
the safety and tolerability
in humans to the vaccine. Although
there have been numerous attempts
in the past, no vaccine to prevent
the transmission of the virus
has been commercialized to date.
While Phase I of the human clinical
trial involved 40 HIV-positive
volunteers, Phase II will measure
the immune responses in 600 HIVnegative
volunteers who have
“There have
been no adverse
effects and
immunological
responses to
date.”
–Dong Joon Kim
been deemed to be in the highrisk
category for HIV infection.
Unlike other attempts at creating
a HIV vaccine, SAV001-H
courtesy
was developed by using a killed
whole HIV-1 virus. Other successful
vaccines developed
through this technique include
ones developed for polio, influenza,
rabies and hepatitis A.
HIV is a retrovirus which causes
acquired immunodeficiency
syndrome, or AIDS. The HIV
virus infects vital cells in the
human immune system and
allows for life-threatening infections
and cancers to thrive.
The killed HIV virus used in the
vaccine was genetically altered to
be nonpathogenic, rendering it
unable to cause the HIV infection
that can lead to AIDS. The virus was
further inactivated using a combination
of chemicals and radiation.
While SAV001-H is the only HIV
vaccine currently under development
in Canada, there are about
two dozen other HIV vaccines being
tried worldwide.
Global to Local:
U of G students and
staff on international
and national news
The Toronto Star recently reported
that the Oxford Dictionary
had chosen its word of the year,
by tracking how the English language
is changing, and picking a
word that best represents the attitudes
of the year. The top word
for the UK was “omnishambles,”
defined as “a situation that has
been comprehensively mismanaged,
characterized by a string of
blunders and miscalculations,”
because it has been applied to
multiple blunders and crises that
the UK has experienced in the past
year. The word for America is “gif,”
which has also transitioned into a
verb, “to gif.“ Other shortlisted
words from these and other countries
were: nomophobia, the fear of
being without one’s mobile phone,
mummy porn, to mark the success
of Fifty Shades of Grey, and YOLO.
The Ontarion: What do you think
of the shortlisted words
Sofia Oke, third year Toxicology
student: I think seeing any sort of
social media and seeing the popularity
of words like “YOLO,” I can
definitely understand why they
would consider these words as
something to put in the dictionary.
In terms of references and
acronyms standing for “you only
live once,” I would say that this is
more of a saying than a word, but I
guess a lot of people would define it
differently. From my perspective,
it would be a hard word to define
personally and especially to have
a definition for it that you would
want to put in the Oxford dictionary.
So, it seems a little bit strange
from my perspective.
The Ontarion: Do you think that
this is a relevant news story, or
something that functions more as
entertainment
SO: I think it’s more entertaining
than anything else. Everyone likes
reading about different aspects [of
news], so there’s political topics,
or other more serious things in the
news, but I think it’s always nice
to have discussion points like this
to uplift others and to at least put
something in their minds that’s
not necessarily as heavy as other
subjects.
Thanks to the participant for this
week’s interview. If you have an
international news story that you
want to see here, or if you want to
be added to a mailing list of potential
interviewees, contact News
Editor Alicja Grzadkowska at onnews@uoguelph.ca.