NIAID Launches First Clinical Trial to Test Antibody–Drug Combination for Long-Acting HIV Treatment | NIH: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

NIAID Launches First Clinical Trial to Test Antibody–Drug Combination for Long-Acting HIV Treatment | NIH: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases





The VRC07-523LS broadly neutralizing antibody (bNAb) being tested in the A5357 trial is based on a naturally occurring bNAb called VRC01, pictured here in a protein structure diagram. Credit: NIAID

Friday, January 24, 2020

NIAID Launches First Clinical Trial to Test Antibody–Drug Combination for Long-Acting HIV Treatment

         The first clinical trial to test the combination of a long-acting anti-HIV drug plus a powerful HIV antibody as a long-acting treatment for people living with HIV has begun. Investigators are studying whether long-acting cabotegravir and an antibody called VRC07-523LS are safe and tolerable and prevent HIV from rebounding to detectable levels in people who previously kept the virus suppressed with daily antiretroviral therapy. NIAID is sponsoring and funding the Phase 2 trial, called A5357, which is being conducted by the NIAID-funded AIDS Clinical Trials Group.

         Current treatment for HIV involves taking two or more antiretroviral drugs in tablet form daily, often as a single pill. Sticking to a daily drug regimen can be difficult for some people, however, so scientists are researching new HIV treatment regimens that involve a dose of medication just once a month or even less frequently.

         While some scientists are developing long-acting formulations of antiretroviral drugs, other researchers are exploring the potential of powerful anti-HIV antibodies as a form of long-acting HIV treatment. A5357 is pairing a long-acting antiretroviral drug with a long-acting broadly neutralizing antibody, each of which thwarts the virus in a very different way.

Learn more on the NIAID Now blog