Pharmexa starts phase I trial in HIV together with HVTN
Pharmexa-Epimmune Inc., a US subsidiary of Pharmexa A/S, and the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN) announcesd the opening of a phase I study designed to test the safety of two HIV vaccine candidates developed by Pharmexa-Epimmune. This trial will test whether the two study vaccines, which are designed for use in combination, are well tolerated, and whether they cause appropriate immune responses in people. The first study vaccine, EP HIV-1090, is a DNA plasmid that has been tested previously in humans and shown to be safe. The second study vaccine, EP-1043, is a recombinant protein that is being tested for the first time in humans.
EP-1043 is an epitope-based recombinant protein vaccine designed to induce HIV-1 specific helper T-lymphocyte (HTL) responses. The vaccine consists of a string of 18 HIV-derived HTL epitopes, each separated by a spacer designed to optimize potency. The EP-HIV-1090 DNA vaccine encodes 21 HIV-1 derived cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) epitopes, which are highly conserved amongst viral subtypes. The epitopes in both vaccines were selected using Pharmexa-Epimmune's proprietary Epitope Identification System and each of them is predicted to be recognized in the majority of the prospective patient population.
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