A ground-breaking approach to the therapy of HIV infection has been published in the current issue of Nature Biotechnology: a designer recombinase that is selectively activated in HIV-infected cells and then specifically excises the virus from the cell genome without damaging the host cell. In contrast to existing treatment strategies, this actually eliminates the virus, rather than merely keeping it in check.
The technology has been developed and optimized by Prof. Hauber at the Heinrich Pette Institute (HPI), Leibniz Institute for Experimental Virology, and Prof. Buchholz (TU Dresden, formerly at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology). The team plans to found a spin-off company to advance the project. The next steps are preclinical development, establishing production to GMP standards, followed by subsequent clinical studies. The current publication launches an intensive phase of approaching investors. Ascenion will play a key role in supporting these discussions, as well as the licensing negotiations on behalf of the research institutes involved.
More information:
- <link http: www.hpi-hamburg.de en current-topics press singleview archive februar article rekombinase-brec1-richtungsweisend-fuer-zukuenftige-hiv-therapie _blank external-link-new-window>Press release from the HPI
- <link https: tu-dresden.de aktuelles news recombinase _blank external-link-new-window>Press release from the TU Dresden
- <link http: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov pubmed _blank external-link-new-window>Abstract in Nature Biotechnology