Fifteen years ago, at the 2008 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI), researchers announced that they had cured a patient – Timothy Ray Brown, initially known only as the Berlin Patient to preserve his privacy – of HIV through a hematopoietic stem cell transplant. Now, as researchers are gathered in Seattle for CROI 2023, reports of another cured patient were published Feb. 20, 2023, in Nature Medicine. Ten years after receiving a hematopoietic stem cell transplant, and 4 years after stopping antiretroviral treatment (ART), a 53-year-old patient may have been cured of HIV infection.
Results published Feb. 17, 2023, in Immunity have given a wider view of what happens in the earliest stages of HIV infection. Treatments against HIV prevent the replication of the virus, but do not kill the reservoir of latently infected cells that starts to build almost immediately upon infection.
Calibr at Scripps Research and the Bill & Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute (Gates MRI) have entered into a strategic licensing agreement to advance development of a novel investigational compound for treatment of tuberculosis (TB).
Assembly Biosciences Inc. has selected development candidate ABI-5366 to progress to IND-enabling studies from its long-acting herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) helicase inhibitor program for high-recurrence genital herpes. The company is targeting IND/CTA filings in the first half of next year.
Cathepsin L (CTS-L) is a lysosomal enzyme responsible for degrading endocytosed proteins to generate immunogenic antigens for adaptive immunities. In the current study, researchers reported data from a study that aimed to assess the potential of targeting procathepsin L (pCTS-L) as a potential therapeutic strategy against sepsis.
Thylacine Biotherapeutics Inc. has entered into a license agreement with Columbia University for worldwide exclusive rights to develop and commercialize a novel antiviral peptide platform invented and refined at Columbia.
Tonix Pharmaceuticals Holding Corp. has exercised an option to obtain an exclusive license from Columbia University for the development of a portfolio of fully human (TNX-3600) and murine (TNX-4100) monoclonal antibodies for the treatment or prophylaxis of SARS-CoV-2 infection.