Virax HIV trial to begin

Biopharmaceutical research and development group Virax Holdings (ASX: VHL) has announced it has finished recruiting patients to its HIV treatment trial.

CEO Dr David Beames said the Co-X-Gene trial was on track to begin concurrently at Sydney's St Vincent's Hospital and Melbourne's Alfred Hospital, with results expected by December.

"This is an important milestone for the study which will provide us with extremely valuable data," Beames said.

"We now have a sufficient number of patients enrolled to gain essential safety information on our immune based therapy VIR201. Significantly, the study will also provide valuable information on the patients' immune response to this novel HIV treatment."

In the double-blind, controlled, randomised, parallel group Phase I/IIa study, the patients will receive a series of vaccinations over a six-month period.

The patients will be tracked for safety and efficacy information for a further six months after treatment.

Beames said the Co-X-Gene platform incorporated a fowlpox virus vector to deliver two new genes that work together to urge the body's immune system to destroy infected cells and kill the HIV.

"This will be significant, not only for the development of this therapy for HIV, but for other treatments in the product pipeline which utilise our platform technology Co-X-Gene," he said.

An independent review, undertaken last year, found no safety concerns among the first group of patients to receive the drug.