Dose, Safety, Tolerability, and Immunogenicity of an HIV-1 Vaccine, VRC-HIVRGP096-00-VP, With Alum in Healthy Adults

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Clinical Trial

Official title: VRC 018: A Phase I Dose Escalation, Randomized, Open-Label Clinical Trial to Evaluate Dose, Safety, Tolerability and Immunogenicity of a HIV-1 Vaccine, VRC-HIVRGP096-00-VP, With Alum in Healthy Adults

Status Completed

Clinical Trial Summary

Background:

HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus, which is the virus that causes AIDS. There is currently no licensed vaccine to prevent HIV infection. Researchers want to test a vaccine called Trimer 4571 for the first time. It was made at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and contains no HIV. The vaccine is mixed with a substance called alum and injected in the arm. Alum is included to boost the body's immune response to the vaccine. It has been used in licensed vaccines for over 60 years and has been found to be safe.

Objectives:

To see if the vaccine Trimer 4571 is safe, well-tolerated, and to study immune responses to it.

Eligibility:

Healthy adults ages 18-50 years

Design:

Participants were screened with a physical exam and blood tests. They agreed to not become pregnant and to avoid behavior that would put them at high-risk for HIV infection during the study.

Participants had about 15 study visits over about 9 months.

The first 6 participants received a low dose of the vaccine mixed with alum.

Once the low dose was deemed safe, 10 new participants were allocated to receive a higher dose.

All participants were randomly assigned to get the vaccine by injection in a muscle or under the skin.

All participants received a total of 3 vaccine injections over 20 weeks. Each visit where participants received the vaccine lasted about 5 hours. Participants were watched after each injection. Participants who were able to get pregnant would have a pregnancy test before each injection.

Participants received a thermometer and recorded their temperature and symptoms every day for 1 week after each injection. The injection site was checked for redness, swelling, or bruising.

At follow-up visits, participants had blood drawn and checked for health changes or problems. Follow up visits lasted about 1-2 hours.

Clinical Trial Description

Design:

This is a Phase I, open-label, dose escalation study to evaluate the dose, safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity of VRC-HIVRGP096-00-VP (Trimer 4571) with aluminum hydroxide suspension (alum) as adjuvant in a three-injection regimen. The hypotheses were that the vaccine will be safe and tolerable and will induce detectable immune responses. The primary objective was to evaluate the safety and tolerability of the investigational vaccine at three doses administered with alum. Secondary objectives were to evaluate humoral and cellular immunogenicity of the investigational vaccine regimens.

Study Product:

VRC-HIVRGP096-00-VP (Trimer 4571) was developed by the Vaccine Research Center (VRC), National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). The soluble HIV-1 envelope product consists of an HIV-1 envelope (Env) trimer variant, derived from clade A, strain BG505, with stabilizing mutations and engineered disulfide bonds, specifically recognized by broadly neutralizing antibodies and resists gp120 conformational change caused by CD4 binding. Injections were administered intramuscularly (IM) and subcutaneously (SC) in a 1 mL volume by needle and syringe. The product was provided at a 500 mcg/mL concentration in 3 mL glass vials filled to 1.2 +/- 0.10 mL. Adjuvant is an aluminum hydroxide suspension (alum) provided in a sterile, pyrogen-free suspension at a concentration of 5 mg/mL in 3 mL glass vials filled to 0.7 +/- 0.10 mL.

Participants:

Healthy adults ages 18 to 50.

Study Plan:

Participants received VRC-HIVRGP096-00-VP at doses of 100 mcg or 500 mcg, both with 500 mcg alum field mixed, administered via IM or SC injections. A dose escalation evaluation occurred to ensure the safety data supported proceeding to the higher dose. Participants were evaluated for safety and immune responses through blood collection at specified timepoints throughout the study.

The study schema is below:

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Group 1: Participants = 3; Route = IM; Dose (mcg) = 100; Day** 0, Week** 8, Week** 20

Group 2: Participants = 3; Route = SC; Dose (mcg) = 100; Day** 0, Week** 8, Week** 20

Group 3: Participants = 5; Route = IM; Dose (mcg) = 500; Day** 0, Week** 8, Week** 20

Group 4: Participants = 5; Route = SC; Dose (mcg) = 500; Day** 0, Week** 8, Week** 20

Total = 16 Participants

**500 mcg of alum was mixed with Trimer 4571 for all groups

Duration:

Participants were followed for 40 weeks. ;

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
• HIV Infections
• Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)
• Human Immunodeficiency Virus Prevention
• Immunologic Deficiency Syndromes

• NCT number: NCT03783130
• Study type: Interventional
• Source: National Institutes of Health Clinical Center (CC)
• Status: Completed
• Phase: Phase 1
• Start date: March 7, 2019
• Completion date: June 24, 2020