US health authorities have confirmed that the first clinical trial of a new HIV vaccine is now underway, marking the first time that an HIV vaccine has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.
The trial will begin in July, and the results will be published later this year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, the agency that approved the vaccine.
The vaccine, which has been in development for nearly three years, uses a modified version of a vaccine developed by Sanofi Pasteur, a French pharmaceutical company.
The modified vaccine contains a different gene from the one that causes HIV infection.
The US Food & Drug Administration said in a statement on Friday that it would not approve the vaccine for human use until the trial was completed.
“The results of this trial are preliminary, but preliminary results suggest that the vaccine can protect against both new HIV infection and infection with HIV-1 in adults,” the agency said in the statement.
The announcement comes on the same day as a US Senate panel approved a bill that would allow states to seek waivers from federal health insurance mandates for states to use the vaccine in their Medicaid plans.
The House approved the legislation on Friday and sent it to President Donald Trump’s desk for his signature.
It is not clear how many states have so far applied for waivers, but the Trump administration has said the waiver process will be expedited.
HIV vaccine trials have been conducted in several countries, including the US, where the virus has killed millions of people.
