how the French company LinKinVax is restoring hope

This French company carries a ray of optimism in the battle against AIDS. For more than ten years, the biotech LinKinVax has been working on a vaccine that would prevent HIV contamination. A virus that infected more than 5,000 new people in 2021, a figure similar to that of the previous year. And on this World AIDS Day, there is reason to rejoice because the first tests of this serum are proving to be rather positive. The 72 volunteers who received three doses of this vaccine saw their immune systems react. Enough to prove the existence of a protective effect against the virus.

First results known within two to three years

Immunology professor Yves Lévy considers this breakthrough crucial in the fight against the epidemic. The director of the vaccine research institute, attached to Inserm, explains the innovative technology used to create this serum: “We have developed a technology which makes it possible to bring the vaccine directly to the dendritic cells. These are the ones that the we always hope to hit when we inject a vaccine intramuscularly. Well, instead of letting things happen, we bring the vaccine directly to the surface of these cells to stimulate them and accelerate the induction of immune response.”

A larger-scale vaccination will be carried out on people at risk, in particular sex workers and homosexuals. The first results will be known within two to three years. Professor Yves Lévy hopes to reduce the risk of infection by half thanks to this serum. A significant first step towards breaking the HIV epidemic in France and around the world.