FIT Biotech Oy
Company release 12.6.2018 at 8:30 AM EET
First EHVA clinical trial authorization granted for testing FIT-06
FIT Biotech Oy ("Company", FITBIO: FN Finland) today announced that the Swiss medical authorities have granted the European HIV Vaccine Alliance (EHVA) the permission to start a phase I/II clinical trial. In this trial, FIT Biotech's HIV vaccine candidate FIT-06 is a part of a regimen whose safety and efficacy are tested with participants living with HIV. This trial is part of a multicentric trial with study sites in six European countries, sponsored by INSERM-ANRS (French National Institute of Health and Medical Research) and is expected to start in June 2018.
Worldwide, almost 37 million people are living with HIV and approximately 2 million new infections occur every year. The Company's clinical stage candidate FIT-06 aims to address the problems of standard therapies that include restricted access to medication, continuous patient retention in therapy, social stigma and potentially serious side effects. There is a need to provide a safer and more cost-effective alternative to current HIV therapies, and the FIT-06 vaccine is part of the EHVA arsenal to represent an important element in this strategy. CEO Erkki Pekkarinen comments: "We are proud to be a part of the EHVA consortium and look very much forward to the start of this clinical trial. Our vaccine candidate FIT-06 is the prime vaccine component in this trial and results will be very important not only to us, but first and foremost to patients, who we aim to provide an improved alternative to control HIV through immunotherapy rather than chemical drugs."
FIT BIOTECH OY Board of Directors
For further information: CEO Erkki Pekkarinen Tel: +358 44 027 0080 E-mail: erkki.pekkarinen@fitbiotech.com
Certified Advisor: Aalto Capital Partners Oy, tel. +358 40 587 7000
About FIT Biotech FIT Biotech Oy is a biotechnology company established in 1995. The company develops and licenses its patented GTU® (Gene Transport Unit) vector technology for new-generation medical treatments. GTU® is a gene transport technology that meets an important medical challenge in the usability of gene therapy and DNA vaccines.
FIT Biotech applies GTU® technology in its drug development programmes. Application areas include cancer (gene therapy) and infectious diseases such as HIV and tuberculosis, as well as animal vaccines.
FIT Biotech shares are listed on the First North Finland marketplace maintained by Nasdaq Helsinki Oy.
About EHVA The European HIV Alliance (EHVA) is a five-year project funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme designed to foster the development of an effective vaccine. The EHVA encompasses 39 partners , each with the expertise to promote a comprehensive approach to the development of an effective HIV vaccine. The international alliance, which includes academic and industrial research partners from all over Europe, as well as sub-Saharan Africa and North America, will work to discover and progress novel vaccine candidates through the clinic (www.ehv-a.eu).
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