India to begin HIV vaccine trial by the end of 2003

India hopes to begin the first phase of testing for a locally developed and targeted HIV/AIDS vaccine by the end of 2003, according to Seth Berkley, president of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative. "We're still in the preparatory stages of getting ready to do clinical trials and also thinking of doing manufacturing here," Berkley said. "That process has been under way for about a year and a half." The Indian government has been working with IAVI to develop an HIV/AIDS vaccine for HIV strain C, the subtype most commonly found in India.