Bio-Bridge developing HIV vaccine

Illinois, USA-based Bio-Bridge Science is developing what it says is a promising new HIV vaccine that is expected to enter clinical trials in 2007 in China. The vaccine targets infection in mucosal tissues, which is a unique approach to prevent and treat HIV infection. The preclinical trials have been done in China and suggest that the vaccine is safe and effective in the treatment and prevention of HIV.

According to a joint report issued by the United Nations' UNAIDS and the World Health Organization, an estimated 39.5 million people globally are living with HIV and an estimated 4.3 million individuals were newly infected during 2006. An overwhelming proportion of the people living with HIV are in Sub-Saharan Africa, where the estimated number of people infected is 24.7 million. The number of people estimated to be living with HIV is 1.2 million in the USA, 650,000 in China and 17,000 in Japan.

China's Ministry of Health said recently that the number of people officially reported as infected by HIV has risen 27.5% since the beginning of 2006, according to the Xinhua news agency. To curb the global spread of HIV, experts believe that a vaccine is needed to fight HIV infection.