Avexa still in the HIV game

Avexa is still working on developing next generation treatments for HIV following a turbulent couple of years, including the dumping of board in 2010 which ceased development of its lead HIV drug apcicitabine (ATC).

New results from laboratory trials of Avexa's (ASX:AVX) other prospective new-generation HIV integrase inhibitors appear to confirm the compounds' potential in treating resistant HIV mutations.

Avexa has announced the results of the study, conducted by an independent US laboratory, showing activity in both sensitive and resistant HIV strains.

The HIV integrase enzyme plays an essential role in the replication of HIV, and is the target for current drugs, Merck’s raltegravir and Gilead’s elvitegravir.

But patients exposed to these drugs can develop a resistance due to mutations in the HIV integrase gene, which reduces the effectiveness of the drugs.

Avexa is attempting to produce a second-generation HIV integrase inhibitor which not only retains its effectiveness in the face of these mutations, but which can be administered through only a single dose per day without pharmacological boosting.

These take a different approach to Avexa’s better known HIV drug, ATC, which is a nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor.

The company has identified two lead compounds with the right characteristics. These compounds have been patent protected and are now being put through laboratory testing.

“These novel compounds have advantages over the currently marketed drugs and show great promise as improved, new generation integrase inhibitors,” Avexa CSO and interim CEO Dr Jonathan Coates said.

Besides the HIV integrase inhibitors, Avexa is also developing HIV treatment candidate apricitabine, an experimental nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI).

The company announced in 2010 that it would suspend development of ATC after the last of its potential marketing partners backed out. But in 2011, the company negotiated an expedited pathway to regulatory approval with both the FDA and the EMA, and revealed it is back on the hunt for a global partner.

According to Avexa chairman Ian Kirkwood, this search for partners “is progressing well, and we are delighted with the progress made to date.”