Aelix Therapeutics enrolls first patient in company’s initial therapeutic HIV vaccine clinical trial

The HTI immunogen brings together specific HIV antigenic regions. There is usually an enriched T-cell immune response towards these regions in those individuals who can control the virus without taking antiretroviral drugs.

AELIX-002 is a phase I randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity study of the HTI vaccine.The enrollment of early diagnosed, early treated HIV-infected individuals in the trial should optimize the expansion of vaccine-associated immune responses. The trial is taking place at the University Hospital Germans Trias i Pujol in Badalona (Catalonia, Spain), and is performed by investigators from the IrsiCaixa AIDS Research Institute and the Fight AIDS Foundation. Results are expected in 2018.

“The AELIX-002 study builds upon our previous experience with therapeutic HIV vaccine trials. It will allow us to evaluate an exciting new HIV vaccine”, said Dr. Beatriz Mothe, principal investigator of the study at HUGTIP. “The vaccine has been designed with the goal of refocusing patients´ immune response to especially vulnerable sites of HIV so that they can control their HIV infection without further antiretroviral therapy.”

“Developing a safe and effective therapeutic HIV vaccine that frees patients from the burden of antiretroviral therapy could be considered as the final frontier in HIV research” said Dr. Ian McGowan, chief medical officer at AELIX Therapeutics. “We are very pleased to be able to partner with Dr. Mothe and her colleagues in evaluating the safety and immunogenicity of our HTI vaccine.”

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Image: From left to right: Christian Brander, Jordi Naval, Bonaventura Clotet and Josep Maria Gatell, founders of Aelix Therapeutics (Foto: IrsiCaixa).