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VIRxSYS Presents Results Of HIV Vaccine Study

VIRxSYS Corporation has presented results from its prophylactic HIV vaccine (VRX1023) study in Rhesus Macaque monkeys at the 2010 Annual Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in San Francisco.

The study has demonstrated that VRX1023 is capable of achieving control of viral load over the course of four months following a challenge with a pathogenic simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV).

In addition, monkeys vaccinated with VRX1023 demonstrated an improved immune response. VIRxSYS is currently preparing an investigational new drug application for the therapeutic use of their HIV vaccine candidate in HIV infected patients.

The study also demonstrated that the vaccine candidate achieved high levels of T-cell responses, resulting in a 95% reduction of viral load in Rhesus monkeys which received lentiviral vaccination, as compared to non-vaccinated control animals in this study.

The investigators also observed an immune response without the requirement of a DNA prime and a major preservation of CD4+T cell compartment as measured by the percentage of CD4+T cells to total lymphocytes.

The lentiviral-based vaccine also elicited high levels of CD107, a expression in T cells, which have been described as having an important role in the control of SIV/HIV. No adverse reactions have been observed in any of the vaccinated animals following multiple infusions of the lentiviral vaccine.

Gary McGarrity, executive vice president of scientific and clinical affairs at VIRxSYS, said: “We believe that this lentiviral vector is an excellent HIV therapeutic vaccine candidate to move to human clinical trials. The impact of a series of simple injections to treat patients who are currently taking complex and often toxic multi-drug regimens, particularly in the developing world, is enormous. VRX1023 is designed to work against all clades of HIV.”

Franck Lemiale, director of Immunology at VIRxSYS, said: “We are encouraged by the results of this study. The combination of strong immune responses, viral control, and CD4 preservation is tremendous. In addition, contrary to most viral vectors currently in development, our lentiviral vector elicits nominal anti-vector responses and therefore can be successfully re-administered. It will be interesting to see how it performs as a therapeutic vaccine in humans.”