A controversial unauthorized herpes vaccine trial in St Kitts and Nevis is in report yet again, while the government in Basseterre remains silent on a promised internal investigation.
According to a headline in Kaiser Health News (KHN): “Desperate quest for herpes cure launched ‘rogue’ trial” recounts the story of 20 herpes sufferers who flew to St Kitts for a vaccine trial led by a researcher whose company is backed by Peter Thiel, a PayPal co-founder. What followed were side effects and renewed outbreaks.
According to Marisa Taylor of KHN, as 20 Americans and Brits flew to a Caribbean island for a controversial herpes vaccine trial, many of them knew there were risks.
The lead US researcher, William Halford, openly acknowledged he was flouting Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations in the consent forms they signed. He would be injecting them with a live, though weakened, herpes virus without US safety oversight.
