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ARTICLE | Clinical News

Mologen sinks on lefitolimod HIV miss

August 9, 2017 11:03 PM UTC

Mologen AG (Xetra:MGN) dropped €0.81 (21%) to €3.06 on Wednesday after its lefitolimod (MGN1703) missed the primary endpoint in an extension of the Phase Ib/IIa TEACH trial to treat HIV infection in patients on antiretroviral therapy (ART). Despite the miss, Mologen plans to evaluate the toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) agonist in a "shock-and-kill" combination treatment for the indication, which involves activating latent viral reservoirs and flushing them out.

The company added the 24-week, 12-patient extension to TEACH after data showed that twice-weekly subcutaneous lefitolimod for four weeks increased HIV-1 transcription and enhanced cytotoxic NK cell activation in TEACH’s 15 patients. However, Mologen said lefitolimod “had no detectable effects" on the size of the viral reservoir in peripheral blood, the primary endpoint of the extension...