New Clinic in Georgia Serves as ‘Convenient Location’ for Emory University AIDS Vaccine Clinical Trial Volunteers
The Hope Clinic, which opened in Decatur, Ga., last month, is serving as a "more convenient location" for HIV vaccine trial volunteers who are participating in the studies through Emory University, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports in a profile of the human research trials currently underway at Emory for AIDS vaccine candidates. Researchers at the clinic are testing several vaccines developed by Merck & Co. The vaccines, which do not contain HIV, focus on stimulating an immune response in participants and are meant to slow the development of AIDS symptoms or make it more difficult for HIV to be transmitted from person to person. Trial volunteers are typically healthy people at low risk for HIV infection. Officials at the Hope Clinic say it will likely be at least five years before any AIDS vaccines being tested will be ready for public use. Dr. Mark Feinberg, director of the clinic, said, "There's definitely light coming at the other end of the tunnel, but it's difficult to say how far off the end of the tunnel is." In addition to Merck vaccines, the Hope Clinic plans to also test vaccines developed by Emory University researchers (Hill, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 1/10).
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