Startup developing HIV/AIDS vaccine is 2nd nonprofit accepted into Y Combinator
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Re: Startup developing HIV/AIDS vaccine is 2nd nonprofit accepted into Y Combinator
#2Lest anyone be confused by that headline, there are 6 other nonprofits in the current batch. So there is a 7-way tie for 2nd nonprofit.
Re: Startup developing HIV/AIDS vaccine is 2nd nonprofit accepted into Y Combinator
#3Lest anyone be confused by that headline, there are 6 other nonprofits in the current batch. So there is a 7-way tie for 2nd nonprofit.
Making the world better, one batch at a time!
Re: Startup developing HIV/AIDS vaccine is 2nd nonprofit accepted into Y Combinator
#4Does this mean that contracting the virus with the vaccine will give you HIV but not AIDS? What about being a carrier, would you still be a carrier?
Re: Startup developing HIV/AIDS vaccine is 2nd nonprofit accepted into Y Combinator
#5So have they developed a vaccine, but they need money for trials, delivery..? How exactly would they go about and test if it works on humans? Are there people who volunteer to get infected with HIV?
Re: Startup developing HIV/AIDS vaccine is 2nd nonprofit accepted into Y Combinator
#6I don't get it, isn't the point of investing to get the investment back in many multiples? How do you get your investment back if it's a non-profit?
Re: Startup developing HIV/AIDS vaccine is 2nd nonprofit accepted into Y Combinator
#7So have they developed a vaccine, but they need money for trials, delivery..? How exactly would they go about and test if it works on humans? Are there people who volunteer to get infected with HIV?
Monkeys. After all, the HI virus originates from apes and they are similar enough to humans for clinical tests. And as for "ethical research", once you know the vaccine will not harm you, give it to a big enough group of "risk people" in Africa or another HIV hotspot and look if they, compared with a placebo group, are immune from HIV.
Re: Startup developing HIV/AIDS vaccine is 2nd nonprofit accepted into Y Combinator
#8So have they developed a vaccine, but they need money for trials, delivery..? How exactly would they go about and test if it works on humans? Are there people who volunteer to get infected with HIV?
For human trials of this nature, typically at-risk populations can be used, and it's seen if there's a reduction in infection rates.
Re: Startup developing HIV/AIDS vaccine is 2nd nonprofit accepted into Y Combinator
#9I don't get it, isn't the point of investing to get the investment back in many multiples? How do you get your investment back if it's a non-profit?
The betterment of the world as a whole?
Re: Startup developing HIV/AIDS vaccine is 2nd nonprofit accepted into Y Combinator
#10So have they developed a vaccine, but they need money for trials, delivery..? How exactly would they go about and test if it works on humans? Are there people who volunteer to get infected with HIV?
I'm Ian Cinnamon, one of the members of the Immunity Project YC team.
We have in fact developed the vaccine. We've completed 2 years of animal testing, and we have one final experiment to run before we start our Phase I Clinical Trials in humans.
In order to test the efficacy of the vaccine in human trials, we go to Durban, South Africa, where HIV has a prevalence rate of ~15%. We dose a wide range of healthy volunteers, and we check back again at regular intervals to make sure they have no contracted HIV. We're also able to perform a wide range of laboratory tests to show the dosed human blood is now immune to HIV.