Merck's experimental AIDS vaccine fails

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070921/ap_on_he_me/aids_vaccine_fails ^ | 09/21/2007 | LINDA A. JOHNSON

[Maximus of Texas]

A promising experimental vaccine to prevent the AIDS virus has failed in a crucial experiment, with volunteers becoming infected with HIV anyway, leading the drug developer to halt the study.

[Maximus of Texas]

Wall, sorry to hear that your volunteering didn’t work out. Hope you spent that $5 well.

[Millee]

I’m sorry for you. I hope they keep trying.

[Abathar]

Geez, who would want to be a test subject on that one...

[Maximus of Texas]

That’s what I was thinking. I pity the fool!

[girlscout]

Wall did apparently. Poor fella.

[TheThirdRuffian]

Apparently male homosexuals and female whores (seriously).

I guess the assumption was: might as well!

[HangnJudge]

Merck was playing up that research...

Glad I do not own any of the stock,
It’s gonna take a hit

Looks OK so far in after hours trading

[The_Reader_David]

Geez, who would want to be a test subject on that one...

Doubtless HIV negative folk who were so only that way out of sheer luck because they were unrepentently engaging in, shall we say, known risk behaviors.

Presumably the stuff evinced an antibody response in subjects, so Merck hoped it would actually produce immunity.

[taxesareforever]

Guess it’s back to square one and the only remedy to HIV.Cease homo sex and stop using drugs. Sounds like a simple remedy to me. But then again, how are the homos going to keep doing what they want to do without the risk of HIV? Yep, got to spend billions trying to find a preventive drug for them.

[printhead]

This combined with news that their HPV vaccine isn’t living up to expectations makes for a bad day for Merck.

[gidget7]

“Guess it’s back to square one and the only remedy to HIV.Cease homo sex and stop using drugs. Sounds like a simple remedy to me. But then again, how are the homos going to keep doing what they want to do without the risk of HIV? Yep, got to spend billions trying to find a preventive drug for them.”

Exactly right. You don’t see equal amounts of money to be spent on research for a smoking related cancer vaccine for lung cancer. Instead, those folks are vilified, taxed to death, and discriminated against in more ways than is believable. Evil smokers have no rights, but buggers and IV users have more rights than anyone, and their disease is totally avoidable, but of course it is not PC to say so. Well PC be d&*%^$#d!

[edpc]

Officials at Merck told The Associated Press that 24 of 741 volunteers who got the vaccine in one segment of the trial later become infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. In a comparison group of volunteers who got dummy shots, 21 of 762 participants also became infected with HIV.

The study volunteers were all free of HIV at the start of the experiment. But they were at high risk for getting HIV: most were homosexual men or female sex workers. They were all repeatedly counseled about how to reduce their risk of HIV infections, including use of condoms, according to Merck.

I am not sure the "vaccine" is to blame. It sounds like the statistics are lower than the failure rate of your average condom. Repeated risky behavior certainly doesn't help the odds. If you get a flu shot, you don't go around purposely engaging in contact with flu-ridden people.

[Maximus of Texas]

Not sure if the smokers cause is the best to use here. IMO, we shouldn’t be spending a ton on money on any behavioral diseases. Let the industries that cause the disease fund the research to cure it.

[JTHomes]

I’m rolling the dice on some smaller innovative companies like GEOVAX LABS INC over big pharma for the HIV play.

[RXSalesman]

For a better return on investment, put some dough down on Bapineuzumab for treating Alzheimer’s Disease...

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

"A promising experimental vaccine to prevent the AIDS virus has failed in a crucial experiment, with volunteers becoming infected with HIV anyway, leading the drug developer to halt the study."

Monkey Virus Alert:

What they don't tell you about vaccines may kill you...

[HangnJudge]

I’m rolling the dice on some smaller innovative companies like GEOVAX LABS INC over big pharma for the HIV play.

Probably smart, better is to keep to your own spouse
The condom ploy is a ruse, better is monogamous life
or celibacy. The vaccine removes consequences from the human equation, and with it the genuine possibilities of actually coming to know maybe one person on this earth, with all masks removed, before our death.

[gidget7]

OK, so exactly what industry causes AIDS? To my knowledge there is no such industry.

There used to be a commercial for Land of Lakes margarine that said “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature” There are many industries that subtly hint not to engage in this particular behavior that causes the disease, but I don’t know of one that “causes” AIDS.

While I was being absurd to illustrate the absurdity of pouring all that money into research for a behavior caused disease, there is an irony to my illustration. Lung cancer has MANY MANY causes. Smoking is only one of the many. The irony is in vilifying smokers, while pouring billions into and condoning a behavior that is far worse, with far worse consequences, both for those who practice it, for health care costs, and for society at large.