More, higher doses boost hep B vax response

Hepatitis B vaccination protocols involving more frequent or higher doses may be more effective at producing virological response in HIV patients, researchers say. Both a high-dose, four-shot regimen given intramuscularly and a lower dose given four times intradermally showed superior serological response compared with the standard three-dose schedule, according to Odile Launay, MD, PhD, of Hopital Cochin in Paris, and colleagues. They reported their findings in the April 13 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Guidelines recommend that all HIV patients who are negative for hepatitis B get immunized. But for these patients, the immunogenicity of the shot is variable, and tends to be lower than in healthy adults. So the researchers investigated whether two different protocols for delivering vaccine in this population could improve immunogenicity, via an open-label, multicenter, parallel-group, randomized trial conducted between June 28, 2007 and Oct. 23,...