GeoVax Labs, Inc. (OTCQB/OTCBB: GOVX), an Atlanta-based biopharmaceutical firm developing vaccines to prevent and fight Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infections, announced today the completion of enrollment for a Phase 2a clinical trial testing its HIV/AIDS vaccine. The vaccine is being developed for use in uninfected people to prevent infection should they be exposed to the virus. The trial, designated HVTN 205, is being conducted by the HIV Vaccines Trials Network (HVTN), which is funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health. A total of 299 participants are enrolled in HVTN 205.
GeoVax also announced the unblinding of data for neutralizing antibody (Ab) responses in part 1 of HVTN 205 – showing elicitation of unexpectedly high response rates of neutralizing antibody for tier 2 isolates of HIV-1. Of 46 tested vaccine recipients, 50% responded with neutralizing activity for tier 2 clade B isolate RHPA; and 26% with neutralizing antibody for tier 2 clade B isolate SC22.3C2. Neutralizing antibodies can block virus from infecting cells by binding to regions of the virus that mediate entry into cells. The elicitation of neutralizing antibody for tier 2 viruses is an important result because tier 2 viruses represent viruses that undergo the most frequent transmission from an infected person to an uninfected person. A new highly sensitive test was used for conducting neutralization tests, which were done at the HVTN laboratories at Duke University.
"Elicitation of neutralizing antibody is a much sought goal for an HIV/AIDS vaccine," said Harriet Robinson, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of GeoVax. "The field has been trying to achieve this goal by re-engineering the HIV envelope protein that mediates entry into cells. Our vaccines use natural forms of the HIV envelope to raise antibody. We are extremely pleased that our natural form of the HIV envelope protein can elicit neutralizing Ab for tier 2 viruses."
"The completion of enrollment for our phase 2a trial is an important milestone," said Robert McNally, Ph.D., GeoVax's President and CEO. "We now look forward to completion of the inoculations and the unblinding of safety and immunogenicity results for the entire trial."
Patient enrollment for HVTN 205 was conducted at 11 clinical sites in North America and two sites in South America.
Global HIV epidemic cannot be ended without keeping former prisoners, other patients engaged in care