Despite Protest, Army to Test AIDS Vaccine
The deadline for stopping a controversial $20-million test of an experimental AIDS vaccine expired Tuesday, ensuring that clinical trials of the drug will proceed despite strong objections from federal health officials and leading AIDS researchers.
The Department of the Army confirmed Tuesday that it planned to test a therapeutic AIDS vaccine manufactured by MicroGeneSys of Meriden, Conn. Known as VaxSyn, the vaccine contains gp160, a substance made from part of the outer coating of the AIDS virus. The experimental vaccine is one of several new drugs designed to slow or halt progression of fully developed AIDS in HIV-infected individuals.
The choice of which drugs to test is traditionally made by scientists at the National Institutes of Health. But in the case of the gp160 vaccine, Congress bypassed NIH and specified both the vaccine and the funding level after extensive lobbying by MicroGeneSys.
A defense appropriation amendment required that the trial proceed unless the NIH director, Food and Drug Administration commissioner and defense secretary unanimously determined not to proceed within six months of the bill’s passage.
In letters sent April 1 to Secretary of Defense Les Aspin and to Rep. William H. Natcher (D-Ky.), who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, NIH Director Bernadine P. Healy and FDA Commissioner David A. Kessler recommended that the trial be conducted only if it included testing of other therapeutic vaccines now under development.
But Army spokeswoman Sgt. Dawn Kilpatrick said the Army had decided to limit the trial to one vaccine because of cost.
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