Ascenion’s portfolio company PROVIREX to build therapy hub for curing HIV

PROVIREX is using the designer recombinase Brec1, developed by its founders, to reverse HIV infection using novel genome editing technology. Brec1 recognizes the integrated HIV DNA ‘provirus’ in the genomes of infected cells and excises it, reconnecting the cell’s DNA without introducing errors. This therapy could, for the first time, enable infected cells to be freed from HIV precisely and permanently.

Brec1 will soon be investigated in an initial Phase Ib/IIa clinical study, as gene therapy in stem cells of HIV-infected individuals at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf. The study will be financed by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the BWFGB Hamburg and the Else Kröner-Fresenius-Stiftung. PROVIREX will use the results of the study to design and conduct a pivotal Phase IIb/IIIa clinical trial.
The funds invested by Bioventure and IFB Innovationsstarter GmbH in PROVIREX will be used to finance a therapy hub in Science City Hamburg Bahrenfeld, enabling the clinical development and commercialization of Brec1 technology.

The technology used by PROVIREX, which was founded three years ago, is based on research by Prof. Joachim Hauber and his team at the Leibniz Institute of Virology and Prof. Frank Buchholz at the Technische Universität Dresden, formerly at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics. As technology transfer partner of the Leibniz Institute of Virology, Ascenion GmbH supported the start-up project and holds shares in PROVIREX.

Further information: press release official international Hamburg website (only in Germany)