There is little hope of seeing an AIDS vaccine arrive soon. This is what Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, president of Sidaction, of which it was the 25th edition, recalled this weekend on Europe 1, and Nobel Prize in Medicine 2008 for having participated in the identification of the virus in 1983.
“Research is progressing but we must not believe that we will have a vaccine tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow”. Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, who participated in the identification of HIV in 1983, does not want the significant progress in AIDS research to give rise to false hopes. She declared this weekend on Europe 1, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Sidaction, that the discovery of a vaccine against this disease in the short or medium term remains unlikely.
However, she recalled the very important advances of recent years, “in particular the identification of extremely powerful antibodies which make it possible to block the virus and which are beginning to be used for therapeutic evaluation”. “Researchers are trying to see if they can find a vaccine that can induce this type of antibody, but it’s not going to happen right away, it’s very complicated for many reasons,” said the president of the Sidaction.
“The quality of life of patients undergoing treatment is good”
“Let’s not forget that it’s not just for HIV that we don’t have a vaccine, and the reasons are probably somewhat similar,” said Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, who welcomed the progress registered by the therapies available today for this disease: “the quality of life of patients under treatment today is good but these are triple therapies for life, there are sometimes side effects”.
“It should also be noted that in a significant percentage of patients there is, over the long term, development of cancers, cardiovascular diseases and metabolic disorders including diabetes; there may therefore be a co-morbidity non-AIDS”, pointed out Françoise Barré-Sinoussi.
In France, approximately 150,000 people are affected by HIV, 6,400 are infected each year and it is estimated that 24,000 are carriers of the virus without knowing it.
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