New class of HIV drug in the offing

Australian biotech Biotron has reaffirmed its commitment to its HIV drug program following the release of an independent international study demonstrating that the protein Vpu plays a key role in allowing the virus to proliferate.

Biotron has what it says is a first in class drug specifically targeting this protein, which has passed through Phase I safety trials, while a Phase Ib/IIa efficacy trial in HIV-positive patients has been formulated and documentation prepared for regulatory and ethics submissions.

VPU is one of several so-called accessory genes which are encoded by HIV. While researchers have tended to focus to-date on the typical retro-viral gag, pol and env genes, there is now a growing understanding about the role played by accessory genes in vivo. Vpu exists exclusively in HIV-1, which is the most common, and deadly form of the virus.

The Vpu study was published in the journal Cell Host & Microbe, and was completed by scientists at Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA. It showed that Vpu impedes HIV-infected cells from triggering an immune reaction by essentially hiding infected cells from immune cells that would seek them out and kill them.

Biotron said that the study indicates that drugs targeting Vpu could wake these cells up, making them more conspicuous and therefore more vulnerable to the body’s defence system.

"We have been working on developing drugs to target the Vpu protein of HIV for several years and, until recently, there has been very little known about exactly how Vpu works, despite good evidence that it is critical to the process of establishing HIV infections in specific cell types", said Dr Michelle Miller, Biotron's CEO.

"We have been leading the way into the clinic with this new class of drug and to see studies like this from the scientific community underlines the importance of Biotron's HIV program".

In parallel with its work on HIV, Biotron is also working on a first-in-class antiviral drug program targeting Hepatitis C virus (HCV). The company recently announced that it had started a Phase II study of its lead antiviral drug BIT225 in HCV patients.

Biotron also has a number of preclinical and research programs targeting other infections including influenza, Dengue and Hepatitis B.