Celgene cancer drug reactivates latent HIV reservoirs

Bionor Pharma ASA (OSE:BIONOR) presented data at the International AIDS Society meeting that the company said show for the first time that cancer drug Istodax romidepsin can reactivate latent HIV reservoirs in HIV-infected patients. In six patients with HIV-1 infection in Part A of the open-label, Danish Phase I/II REDUC trial, Istodax -- a histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor from Celgene Corp. (NASDAQ:CELG) -- successfully reactivated HIV transcription. Istodax significantly increased cell-associated unspliced HIV-1 RNA levels from baseline in all six patients (p=0.03). In five patients, Istodax increased plasma HIV-1 RNA levels from undetectable at baseline to quantifiable levels (p=0.035). The patients were all on combination antiretroviral therapy and had undetectable HIV-1 RNA levels at baseline.

Bionor said Istodax is used to "kick" HIV out of latent reservoirs to allow the immune response generated by the company's Vacc-4x to attack and eliminate the infected cells. Vacc-4x is a peptide-based therapeutic vaccine composed of four modified HIV Gag p24 in Phase II testing. Reservoir data from Part B of the REDUC trial are expected next half. Part B is enrolling 20 HIV patients to receive Vacc-4x followed by Istodax for three weeks. Bionor was up NOK0.16 to NOK2.97 on Tuesday. ...