Genetic Immunity reports positive results of HIV immune therapy

Genetic Immunity studied nine HIV infected individuals on fully suppressive antiretroviral therapy who were treated a single time with either 0.1, 0.4 or 0.8mg of multiple HIV antigens encoding plasmid DNA, the active substance in DermaVir Patch. The same antiretroviral drug regimen was continued during the one-year follow-up.

The DermaVir Patch treatment resulted in significant induction of PHPC counts in all nine patients in the study. Importantly, these precursor T cell responses were long lasting; 10-100 fold increased PHPC counts over baseline were detected during the one year follow up. Safety was assessed with standard clinical and laboratory evaluations, and dermatological analysis of skin reaction. DermaVir Patch continued to show a lack of dose limiting toxicities. Through multiple studies, the only side effect seen so far has been limited to transient erythema (redness of the skin).

Julianna Lisziewicz, co-founder and CEO of Genetic Immunity, said: “The Genetic Immunity team is encouraged by this data, which suggests that the DermaVir Patch is on its way to becoming the first immune therapy for HIV-infected individuals.”