A multi-center clinical trial for China’s self-developed AIDS vaccine started this year and is currently in progress. Photo: VCG

A multi-center clinical trial for China's self-developed AIDS vaccine started this year and is currently in progress, according to the National Health Commission.

"In general, all vaccines require a long process from development to the market. It is even more difficult for the AIDS vaccine, which is determined by the characteristics of the AIDS virus itself," said Jin Cong, deputy director of the AIDS Prevention Office at the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention, in an online interview held by the National Health Commission yesterday.

At present, there is no effective and safe vaccine to prevent HIV, Jin noted, adding that the progress of AIDS vaccine research in China has been synchronized with international research progress. 

The DNA-rTV vaccine with completely independent intellectual property rights, developed by the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention, is the first replicative viral vector AIDS vaccine in the world to complete a phase II clinical trial, said Jin, adding that "the early clinical trials have shown that the DNA-rTV vaccine is safe, and can induce subjects to produce strong antibody responses and cellular immune responses."

China has achieved remarkable results in the prevention and treatment of AIDS, experts said in yesterday's online interview. 

"The transmission of AIDS through blood transfusion has basically been blocked, and transmission through drug use and mother-to-child transmission have also been effectively controlled. The overall AIDS epidemic has continued to be controlled, bringing it to a low epidemic level," said Li Dongmin, deputy Director of the Epidemiology Department at the STD/AIDS Prevention and Control Cente. Li said that sexual transmission has now become the main route of transmission, and noted that the task of preventing and treating AIDS is still arduous.