the first ever aids vaccine to be tested on a large number of people has not been able to protect them from hiv infection, admitted Vaxgen, the vaccine's us-based manufacturer. But controversially, it tried to put a positive spin to this failure by announcing the vaccine, called Aidsvax, seemed to protect African-Americans and some non-Hispanic minorities.

The failure, after four years of intensive research on the project, must be a bitter pill for the company to swallow. Vaxgen was hoping the vaccine would prevent 30 per cent of the infections