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Biotron shares rise on commencing promising HIV trial

Published: 13:00 13 Feb 2017 AEDT

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Antiviral drug targeting virus proteins known as viroporins

Biotron (ASX:BIT) has commenced the Phase 2 human clinical trial of its lead antiviral drug BIT225 in patients with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV-1) infection.

The company’s shares were last trading 11.4% higher intra-day, at $0.039.

BIT225 targets a class of virus protein known as viroporins which have caused worldwide health issues such as Dengue, Hepatitis B, Ebola, Influenza and Zika.

The trial will be undertaken at HIV-NAT, within the Thai Red Cross AIDS Research Centre in Bangkok,
Thailand.

The trial is a randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind study of BIT225 and combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) in patients with HIV-1 infection.

Biotron’s primary objective of the study is to determine the efficacy of 12 weeks of BIT225 treatment in HIV-1 infected subjects by measuring plasma viral load decay and modelling HIV-1 decay.

The company will also determine the safety and tolerability of BIT225 administered once daily for 12 weeks.

At the conclusion of the trial, patients will remain on cART as per standard treatment protocols.

The commencement of the BIT225-009 clinical trial builds on the recent announcement by Biotron of successful results with BIT225 in a humanised mouse study of HIV-1 infection.

BIT225 has the potential to play a key role in the eradication of HIV-1 by targeting and clearing HIV- 1 from cellular reservoirs.

Initiating this clinical trial is an important step towards demonstrating the clinical benefit that BIT225 could bring to the treatment of HIV-1.

Biotron is expecting to see early results from the trial in late Q3 2017.

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