South Africa is launching clinical trials of the first AIDS vaccines created by a developing country, the AP reports (via BreitBart.com). Trials to test the vaccine’s safety on humans begin this month on 36 volunteers. The vaccine was developed at the University of Cape Town, with technical and manufacturing help from the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

This landmark step is a model for continued biotechnology development in South Africa, with some 250 scientists and technicians working on the project, producing work for professional publications. Anthony Mbewu, president of South Africa’s government-supported Medical Research Council, spoke to this recent milestone and the future of biotech in South Africa:

We have the biggest problem [in the world.][...] Every emerging country is trying, wants to develop their own capacity to design and develop vaccines—Brazil, Korea.

When the next influenza pandemic hits the world, every country will be scrambling to develop a vaccine … so it is important that countries like South Africa have the technology and capacity to develop vaccines and the industry to manufacture them.

Jerry Sadoff of Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation discusses the announcement of breakthrough TB trials in South Africa as well as a new partnership. Sadoff notes the integral role of Biotech in TB vaccine research: