Aarhus University, Bionor Pharma Use Celgene's Istodax To Lure HIV

By Cyndi Root

Researchers from Aarhus University and Bionor Pharma presented an abstract at the Aids 2014 congress in Melbourne regarding a small study that used Celgene’s Istodax (romidepsin) to lure HIV hidden in reservoirs in the body. Driving the virus into the open makes it susceptible to antiretroviral therapy. Medscape reports that Sharon Lewin, MD, co-chair of the meeting organizing committee, said the results were the first of its kind and significant; waking up the long-lived, sleeping forms of the virus and making it leave the cell is a big step. Steven Deeks, MD, from the University of California at San Francisco, said, "I think this is the single most important advance we've heard of at this meeting, and it's going to have a huge impact in the future."

HIV Istodax Study

The study of Celgene’s Istodax in HIV treatment is titled, “The HDAC inhibitor romidepsin is safe and effectively reverses HIV-1 latency in vivo as measured by standard clinical assays.” It was conducted by Aarhus University Hospital, Department of Infectious Diseases, Aarhus, Denmark, and by Bionor Pharma from Oslo, Norway.

Investigators evaluated the effects of romidepsin on measures of viral transcription and plasma viremia in vivo. Six aviremic HIV-infected adults participated in the Phase I/II trial and received intravenous romidepsin (5 mg/m2) once weekly for 3 weeks while maintaining cART. The patients’ viral load was undetectable prior to treatment and became “readily quantifiable” afterwards as measured by standard commercial assays.

The results spur hope for a cure as the hidden reservoirs of the virus present a critical challenge. While romidepsin treatment lured the virus from hiding, after discontinuation of treatment, the virus went back to hiding. Another downside to the results was that the immune system did not mount a response when the virus particles appeared, leading investigators to consider further trials of romidepsin in combination with biologics.

About Bionor Pharma

Bionor Pharma, a Norwegian biopharma company, sponsored the study as it is investigating romidepsin with its vaccine candidate Vacc-4x. The company announced in a press release that it presented its findings on Vacc-4x at the Aids conference. The company is enrolling patients for a trial of romidepsin with Vacc-4x, which is made from synthetic peptides.