Biotron's BIT225 reverses immune impairment in HIV

Biotron (ASX:BIT) has announced that new data from a trial of the antiretroviral BIT225 reverses HIV-induced impairment of the immune system.

The latest findings from the BIT225-004 trial were presented at the 20th International AIDS Conference in Melbourne this week.

Blood samples taken from HIV-infected patients treated with BIT225 for 10 days demonstrated a marked reduction in levels of sCD163, an inflammatory marker of immune activation associated with macrophages.

Post treatment, sCD163 returned to pre-treatment levels. Samples from placebo-treated controls showed that sCD163 levels remained unchanged throughout the study.

Previous data from the trial supports the treatment’s ability to reduce viral load by clearing HIV from reservoir cells of the monocyte/macrocyte lineage. These reservoir cells morph into macrophages when they leave the bloodstream, where they act as long-term reservoirs of HIV not cleared by current antiretrovirals.

Biotron Senior Virologist Dr John Wilkinson said the latest results suggest that BIT225 could fulfil both goals of HIV drug treatments.

“The aim of drug treatment for HIV is to not only reduce virus levels, but also to dampen down the associated immune activation,” he said. “BIT225 can potentially target both sides of the problem, resulting in reduction of virus and a normal functioning immune system.”

He said the trial is the first demonstration of the feasibility of targeting virus within monocyte or macrophage cells to prevent the ongoing cycle of infection and reinfection in HIV patients.

The trial was conducted at a clinical trial unit in Bangkok, Thailand, and involved 21 patients with high viral loads and good CD4+ T cell counts. None of the patients had previously been treated with antiretroviral drugs.

Biotron (ASX:BIT) shares were trading 23.81% higher at $0.13 as of around 1 pm on Wednesday.