BEIJING Guillermo Ochoa Mexicana Camiseta , April 9 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese company has launched a crowdfunding initiative to raise at least one billion euros (about 1.08 billion US dollars) to buy renowned Italian soccer club AC Milan, according to an Italian soccer insider.
According to Fu Yixiang, vice president of the Italy-China Chamber of Commerce, five companies have been linked to a possible takeover of the club.
Four are based in China -- beverage maker Wahaha, real estate developer Wanda, telecommunications giants Huawei and e-commerce magnate Alibaba Alfredo Talavera Mexicana Camiseta , and the other interested is a Thai company, Fu said.
Fu, who has sources in the Italian soccer sector, said that no company is willing to pay 1 billion euros individually for the club as making a quick profit from the investment looks impossible.
"So, a crowdfunding move is under way in China," said Fu.
"A consortium formed by several big companies will pay half of the 1 billion euros and the other half will be raised through crowdfunding with one share expected to cost no more than 10 Javier Aquino Mexicana Camiseta ,000 yuan (about 1,600 US dollars)," he added.
Speculation has been swirling that Hong Kong billionaire Richard Lee is negotiating the purchase of AC Milan after being spotted with current owner Silvio Berlusconi last week.
"There are a lot of rumors like this every day," said Fu.
"Berlusconi wants to sell the club, it's not a secret. The question is that there is no consensus within his family on when to sell it.
"Some want to sell it as soon as possible arguing that it is a financial burden, while the others prefer to keep it until construction on the new stadium is completed so that they can demand a high price."
Fu believes that it's a good opportunity for Chinese investors to buy a European heavyweight soccer club.
"If Chinese funds can secure the ownership of the club Carlos Vela Mexicana Camiseta , it is not hard to make a profit in the long run," said Fu.
"UEFA has imposed 'Financial Fair Play' from 2013-14 season. Now the English Premier League is already able to profit after the European governing body has tightened the total money injection into clubs.
"For a club like AC Milan, it's a tangible target to profit so long as you can tap its huge potential market value." ( AC Milan have won the Champions League seven times, but it has been struggling over the past seasons for financial strains. It is ranked eighth this season, collecting 41 points after 29 rounds, 29 points behind league leader Juventus.
WASHINGTON Giovani dos Santos Mexicana Camiseta , July 24 (Xinhua) -- An experimental HIV vaccine regimen was well-tolerated and generated immune responses against HIV in an early-stage clinical trial called APPROACH that involved nearly 400 healthy adults, the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) said Monday.
The APPROACH findings will help decide whether to move forward with a larger trial in southern Africa to evaluate vaccine safety and efficacy among women at risk of acquiring HIV, the U.S. health agency said in a statement.
The experimental vaccine regimens evaluated in APPROACH are based on "mosaic" vaccines designed to induce immunological responses against a wide variety of HIV subtypes responsible for HIV infections globally.
The trial involved nearly 400 volunteers in the United States, Rwanda, Uganda, South Africa and Thailand who were randomly assigned to receive one of seven experimental vaccine regimens or a placebo.
While different mosaic vaccine regimens were well-tolerated and capable of generating anti-HIV immune responses in healthy Raul Jimenez Mexicana Camiseta , HIV-negative adults, one regimen that was most protective in pre-clinical studies in animals elicited the greatest immune responses in the study participants.
The NIH said the findings from APPROACH, as well as from animal studies, support further evaluation of this regimen in a clinical trial to assess its safety and efficacy.
"Plans for such a clinical trial to be conducted in southern Africa are in development, with projected enrollment of 2,600 healthy Hirving Lozano Mexicana Camiseta , HIV-negative women," it said.
"Should the larger trial move forward, it is expected to begin enrollment in late 2017 or early 2018."
In APPROACH, study participants received four vaccinations over 48 weeks: two doses of an initial, or "prime," vaccine Miguel Layun Mexicana Camiseta , followed by two doses of a booster vaccine.
The experimental regimens all incorporated the same vaccine components in the prime vaccination, known as Ad26.Mos.HIV, while the booster vaccination included various combinations of the Ad26.Mos.HIV components or a different mosaic component, called MVA-Mosaic, andor two different doses of the soluble protein Clade C gp140 containing an aluminum adjuvant to boost immune response.
In pre-clinical monkey studies, the most effective prime-boost regimen reduced the risk of infection per exposure to an HIV-like virus called simian human immunodeficiency virus by 94 percent and resulted in 66 percent complete protection after six exposures.
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Jorge Torres Nilo Mexicana Camiseta , part of the NIH, funded pre-clinical development of these mosaic vaccines, while the manufacture and clinical development are led by the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson.
"A safe and effective HIV vaccine would be a powerful tool to reduce new HIV infections worldwide and help bring about a durable end to the HIVAIDS pandemic," NIAID Director Anthony Fauci said in the NIH statement.
"By exploring multiple promising avenues of vaccine development research, we expand our opportunities to achieve these goals," Fauci added.