Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

AIDS study announcement questioned

|
|
 
  
Published: Oct. 10, 2009 at 1:15 PM

WASHINGTON, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- The encouraging results of an AIDS vaccine trial announced by the U.S. Army and Thailand may have been a fluke, a scientist says.

The Army, the Thai government and the U.S. National Institutes of Health, which helped finance the three-year, $105 million study, announced last month the results indicated they had found the first vaccine that provided some protection against human immunodeficiency virus. But an Army scientist involved in the project said a second analysis of data showed the results weren't statistically significant, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.

Scientist Jerome Kim told the newspaper that officials were aware of the second analysis when it made the announcement but went ahead anyway. The newspaper said the second analysis, which is considered a vital component of any vaccine study, indicated the results could have been due to chance.

The initial results indicated the vaccine reduced by the chance of infection with HIV, the AIDS-causing virus, by 31 percent, but a follow-up "per protocol" analysis showed there is a 16 percent chance the study results were a fluke, which, the newspaper said, is a far greater probability than is considered statistically acceptable.

Questions have reportedly been raised by the incomplete disclosure. Among them is the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the part of the NIH that oversees AIDS research, rushed out a positive spin on what may have been an expensive, inconclusive effort.

NIAID Director Anthony Fauci declined to comment to the Journal.

© 2009 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
Protesters, police clash at NATO summit Notable deaths of 2012 2012 Billboard Music Awards
The 137th Preakness Stakes Annual Solar eclipse occurs in U.S. Chen Guangcheng arrives in the U.S.
Additional Health News Stories
1 of 29
Members of the Army's Old Guard place flags at Arlington National Ceremtery
View Caption
U.S. flags are seen in the rucksack of a soldier with the Army's 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment, The Old Guard, as he places flags at gravesites in Arlington National Cemetery as part of the Flags-In Memorial Day ceremony on May 24, 2012 in Arlington, Virginia. American flags were placed at each of the more than 220,000 grave markers in honor of those who served and Memorial Day. UPI/Kevin Dietshc
fark
I'm thinking of using a non-sequitor to greet various people. I was thinking something like "Brother"...
Photoshop this Passing President
The Lord is just in all his ways: redlight runner who hit nun has iPhone stolen by passerby offering...
Can you order top shelf hookers at the Travelodge? It's more likely than you think. (Not safe for...
70 years ago today Czech partisans made Hitler very angry
Newly upgraded to a tropical storm and now Beryling in on Southeast coast