South Africa has moved a step closer to an HIV vaccine with the launch of the BRILLIANT 011 clinical trial at the Desmond Tutu Health Foundation (DTHF) site at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town. The first participant has already been enrolled.
It is considered a safe, affordable vaccine taken in the first year of life – and never again – is the long-term prize scientists are chasing as South Africa launches its first-ever human HIV vaccine trial in Cape Town, a milestone moment in a decades-long global race to end the epidemic.
A group of about 20 HIV-negative South Africans has become the first in the country to take part the trial that researchers hope could lay the groundwork for a future generation free of the virus.
Unlike traditional vaccine studies, BRILLIANT 011 uses a cocktail approach, administering two vaccine products together to stimulate strong immune responses.
Unlike traditional vaccine studies, BRILLIANT 011 uses a cocktail approach, administering two vaccine products together to stimulate strong immune responses.
As part of the study, researchers collect large volumes of blood and perform leukapheresis – a process that removes white blood cells – to closely study how the immune system responds to the vaccine.
The trial forms part of the BRILLIANT Consortium, an African-led research initiative working to develop an HIV vaccine designed for strains circulating in Southern Africa.
Conducted by the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC), the DTHF and the Wits Health Consortium, it forms part of the BRILLIANT Consortium (Bringing Innovation to cLinical and Laboratory research to end HIV in Africa through New vaccine Technology).
The consortium was awarded R867 million in funding from the US in 2023 to implement the HIV Vaccine Innovation, Science and Technology Acceleration in Africa (HIV-Vista) programme, and the trial marks a critical early step in HIV vaccine development, said Professor Glenda Gray, SAMRC chief scientific officer and a distinguished professor at Wits University’s faculty of health sciences.
