China starts latest trial of long-lasting HIV vaccine

An HIV vaccine being developed by Chinese scientists will be given to 160 volunteers in a second-phase clinical trial, a medical scientist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said on Monday.

The candidate vaccine, DNA-rTV, relies on replication of the DNA of HIV to stimulate effective immunization, according to Shao Yiming, a chief HIV researcher at the center.

He said the vaccine, based on the one used to prevent smallpox, is the first such HIV vaccine to begin a second-phase clinical trial.