Subscribe
The U.S. Military HIV Research Program (MHRP) at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) has completed enrollment in a Phase 1 human trial in Tanzania to evaluate the safety and antiviral activity of a long-acting bispecific antibody, alone and in combination with another potent monoclonal antibody, to combat HIV.
Bispecific antibodies are lab-engineered antibodies designed to target two distinct binding sites on immune cells or virus envelopes. These molecules can neutralize HIV with improved breadth and potency, and they can be used as both preventive and therapeutic countermeasures.
Not only will this study help researchers understand how these drugs might be useful for preventing or treating HIV but is also exploring the safety of intramuscular administration and fixed dosing for mAbs, strategies conducive for use in deployed settings.
"We see these bi-specific antibodies as valuable potential tools for use in strategic geographies where HIV is highly endemic, especially in INDOPACOM and EUCOM areas of operation," explained MHRP director Col. Julie Ake.
WRAIR’s long-time collaborator, Tanzania's National Institute for Medical Research - Mbeya Medical Research Center, is conducting the study, called RV584. WRAIR has been working in Tanzania on countermeasure development for infectious diseases since 2001 and works in close collaboration with the Tanzanian government and the Tanzania People’s Defence Force. The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, which has supported MHRP for more than 30 years, is also collaborating on the protocol.
The products being used for the study include 10E8.4/iMab, a bispecific antibody developed by Dr. David Ho's lab at the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center. The bispecific antibody is very potent against a wide range of HIV virus variants. In one of the arms of RV584, it is being tested with the broadly neutralizing monoclonal antibody (mAb) VRC07-523LS, which was developed at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) Vaccine Research Center and has been shown to be active against 96% of diverse HIV strains. The trial reached full enrollment in April 2025.
| Date Taken: | 05.30.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 06.04.2025 08:16 |
| Story ID: | 499307 |
| Location: | MBEYA, TZ |
| Web Views: | 114 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, The Promise of Bi-Specific Antibodies to Mitigate HIV Risk to the Battlefield Blood Supply, by Jamie Livengood, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
