Indian scientists developing AIDS vaccine

Indian scientists are currently developing vaccines to tackle the scourge of AIDS and field trials will be held within a few months, Minister of State for Science, Technology and Ocean Development Kapil Sibal has said.

"The National Aids Control Organisation is in charge of it [the project]," Sibal said in an informal chat with newspersons in London on Friday night.

Sibal was in London on a transit visit after attending a meeting of the International Board of AIDS Vaccine Initiative in Dublin, Ireland. India is a member of the International Board which has a tripartite agreement with the Indian Council
of Medical Research and the Government of India.

He said there is an all-party group in the House of Commons which dealt with the AIDS issues and he had a discussion with that group.

He said there are three kinds of populations linked to the spread of HIV - sex workers, intravenous drug users and  migrant workers like truck drivers.

Referring to some of the hurdles faced by the government in tackling the disease, Sibal, an eminent lawyer, said CIPLA which is supplying drugs for tackling HIV in South Africa at a very low cost has declined to supply the same to India unless the government extended certain concessions to it.