Nature Communications Publishes Study of CytoDyn
Post# of 148163
Leronlimab to be studied as potential HIV PrEP drug in humans through an early clinical trial
VANCOUVER, Washington, June 07, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CytoDyn Inc. (OTC.QB: CYDY), ("CytoDyn" or the "Company" , a late-stage biotechnology company developing leronlimab, a CCR5 antagonist with the potential for multiple therapeutic indications, announced today the publication in Nature Communications of a study showing leronlimab prevented nonhuman primates from being infected with Simian Human Immunodeficiency virus (SHIV), a monkey-human chimeric form of HIV. The results will inform a future human clinical trial evaluating leronlimab as a potential pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, therapy to prevent human infection from the virus that causes AIDs. “Antibody-based CCR5 Blockade Protects Macaques from Mucosal SHIV Transmission” can be found at: https://rdcu.be/cl4lv.
“Our study findings indicate leronlimab could be a new weapon against the HIV epidemic,” said the study’s lead researcher and co-corresponding author of this paper, Jonah Sacha, Ph.D., an Oregon Health & Science University professor at OHSU’s Oregon National Primate Center and Vaccine & Gene Therapy Institute. Dr. Sacha receives compensation as a consultant to CytoDyn and an annual stock option as a member of CytoDyn’s Scientific Advisory Board.
“The results of this pre-clinical study, targeting the HIV co-receptor CCR5, have the potential to be groundbreaking as we essentially have a tool that can mimic the genetic mutations of CCR5 that render some individuals immune to infection and have led in part to two cases of a cure of HIV,” said the other co-corresponding author, Lishomwa Ndhlovu, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of immunology in medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York. Dr. Ndhlovu receives an annual stock option as a member of CytoDyn’s Scientific Advisory Board.
Nader Pourhassan, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of CytoDyn, noted, "We are very thankful to Drs. Sacha and Ndhlovu for their contributions to this important study and very much look forward to the future PrEP trial to prevent human infection of the AIDs virus. PrEP drugs currently available can lead to adverse side effects such as kidney and bone problems, side effects we have not seen with leronlimab. The potential use of leronlimab in multiple therapeutic indications is exciting (i.e., HIV, NASH, cancer, COVID-19). The Company is continuing to advance these opportunities as quickly as possible, including assessing the most cost-effective location to perform its clinical trials, especially considering its new international partners. I am so grateful to work with colleagues who share our vision and dedication to bring leronlimab to market.”