VIRxSYS Corporation Demonstrates "Functional Cure" and Survival Benefit for the Simian Model of HIV in Preclinical Vaccine Study

ATLANTA & GAITHERSBURG, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--VIRxSYS Corporation, a privately held company developing vaccines and RNA therapies for serious human diseases, today presented results from a study of VRX1116, a simian analog for an investigational, lentiviral-based vaccine for HIV VRX1273, at the AIDS Vaccine 2010 conference in Atlanta, GA. In this prophylactic non human primate study, two out of five monkeys immunized with the vaccine were able to “functionally cure,” or fully control and suppress viral replication over time after challenge with a highly pathogenic simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), and have shown stable or increased CD4 counts compared to pre-challenge baselines Additionally, the death of several monkeys in the control, unvaccinated group showed that VRX1116-based vaccination was capable of conferring a survival benefit following SIV infection. The vaccine was safely and repeatedly administered and proved to be highly immunogenic with sustained immune responses. Virological and immunological benefits, including control of viral load and preservation of the CD4 compartment, were sustained for as long as one year post-challenge.