.... Ghana's trial move on
.... Test bed for "out-of-date" technologies?
A major HIV human vaccine trial, which has already started in Ghana, has been shelved in Cambodia amid claims it violated people's human rights.
The trial was supposed to be one arm of an international study to see if Tenofovir, which is used to fight HIV, can also protect uninfected but sexually active adults against the virus that causes AIDS.
Some 960 sex workers were slated to take part in the trial, partly funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, but they boycotted it, saying they wanted medical insurance for side effects for up to 40 years after the study, according to wire service reports.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has now stopped the trial, saying his country is not a test bed for "out-of-date" technologies. He also suggested that the drug should be tested on animals before any human trial was launched.
Family Health International, the U.S. organization that is spearheading the trials, expected to involve 8,000 people, rejected claims that they violate human rights. Trials have already started in Botswana, Ghana and Malawi. Plans are also under way to test the drug on people in the United States, Thailand and Nigeria.
