Canceled Vaccine May Have Boosted HIV Risk

SEATTLE -- New evidence suggests that Merck & Co.'s experimental HIV vaccine may have made its recipients more vulnerable to the deadly AIDS virus -- and has prompted researchers to warn participants in other trials that similarly made vaccines for a range of other diseases might also increase their susceptibility to HIV.

Merck canceled development of its HIV vaccine in September after it became clear in a clinical trial that it didn't prevent infection or reduce the amount of HIV in subjects who became infected. Since then, Merck and its partners have analyzed data from the 3,000-participant trial and found the damage may be deeper: In a large subset of participants, those given the vaccine acquired HIV at a higher rate than those who received a placebo. All participants were HIV-negative at the start of the trial.

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