ABX464 as HIV Functional Cure and Treatment for Inflammatory Diseases

Medical research that attempts to prevent, treat, or cure HIV/AIDS has been ongoing for several years. ABIVAX (Euronext Paris: FR0012333284 - ABVX), an innovative biotechnology company targeting the immune system to eliminate viral disease, announced today that the Company presented new preclinical data on ABX464, ABIVAX's first-in-class drug candidate for a functional cure of patients with HIV/AIDS, during this week's HIV DART (Frontiers in Drug Development for Antiretroviral Therapy) scientific conference in Los Cabos, Mexico.

The data show that in in vitro models, ABX464 exposure leads to a 50-fold upregulation of IL-22, a potent anti-inflammatory cytokine, by macrophages as well as a 10-fold upregulation of the anti-inflammatory microRNA miR-124 in T-lymphocytes. In addition, ABIVAX reported for the first time that in a preclinical model of colitis, treatment with ABX464 reduces macrophage recruitment into the intestine and also inflammatory cytokine release (IL-6 and TNFa), thereby preventing the histological changes of the gut associated with colitis.

Furthermore, Abivax disclosed that after stopping the treatment, the protective effect of ABX464 in this disease model lasted for at least 6 weeks despite continued exposure to DSS, a substance well known to induce the pathological features of colitis. This therapeutic effect is mediated at least in part by IL-22, an anti-inflammatory cytokine known to regulate tissue repair and recovery from colon injury, as antibodies to IL-22 partly abolished this protection..

ABIVAX's oral presentation, entitled, "Anti-HIV drug candidate ABX464 prevents intestinal inflammation by producing IL-22 in activated macrophages" was given by Prof. Jamal Tazi (Director, Institute for Molecular Genetics, CNRS and University of Montpellier, France and Executive Committee Member, ABIVAX) during the session on 'inflammation and cure'.

"This newly discovered anti-inflammatory effect suggests that our lead compound, ABX464, may be able to modulate important disease parameters not only in HIV, but also in other inflammatory conditions like inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)," said Prof. Jamal Tazi, and Prof. Hartmut Ehrlich, CEO of ABIVAX added "We are rapidly responding to these encouraging new data; ABIVAX is planning to start a clinical proof-of-concept study of ABX464 to treat IBD during 2017,"

Source-Eurekalert