Benitec delays HIV/AIDS drug IND filing

Gene therapy company Benitec's (ASX:BLT) shares fell on news that the US FDA investigational new drug (IND) filing for its HIV/AIDS therapeutic will be delayed.

The company said that the delay was due to one aberrant result in the release tests of the clinical materials, not the drug itself.

"We are working closely with the manufacturing team to resolve this unanticipated result and will move forward as quickly as possible with the IND filing," said Benitec's CEO Sara Cunningham in a statement. "Although the result is unrelated to the safety or efficacy of the drug, we will not file the IND until we are certain that all components of the clinical materials are fully and properly characterised and pass our stringent manufacturing criteria."

Benitec's shares were trading at $0.165 at the time of writing, down 8.3 per cent from $0.18 when trade opened this morning.