The University of Western Ontario in London of Ontario, Canada, recently announced that an HIV vaccine (SAV001) developed by their researchers has received approval by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to start human clinical trials.

The vaccine works much like the vaccines for polio, influenza, rabies and hepatitis A and has proven to stimulate strong immune responses in preliminary toxicology tests with no adverse effects.

The research is led by Dr Chil-Yong Kan with the university, and with the support of Sumagen Canada, which has secured patents for the SAV001 vaccine in more than 70 countries, including the United States, the European Union, China, India and South Korea.