Avexa Ltd (AVX) which is in the process of developing an HIV drug, said today its trials for the drug showed 90% of treated patients achieve undetectable viral loads after 48-weeks.
The news propelled the shares 7.3% to 44 cents. More than 3.5 million shares had changed hands, which is 3 times the average daily volume.
The Melbourne-based company said the level of CD4 cells in patients continued to increase out of 48 weeks and even those patients who were initially on a different drug and then switched to apricitabine (ATC) doubled their levels of CD4 cells.
“These exciting results indicate that the clinical and immunological benefit of ATC continues to increase with long-term treatment out to 48 weeks,” chief executive Julian Chick said.
The drug is targeted at HIV patients who have developed a resistance to existing treatments.
A particularly promising result in these phase 2b trials is that no resistance towards ATC has been identified after 48 weeks of therapy. This demonstrates that ATC can withstand selection of HIV resistance, even in patients who have already failed other drugs and this differentiates it from some other HIV drugs in clinical use.
The company said the safety profile of ATC continues to be excellent.
“No serious adverse events related to ATC have occurred to date and no patients have withdrawn from the trial because of side effects related to ATC,” Chick said.
Julian Chick is confident that the biotechnology company’s focus on the product will pay dividends when the drug passes phase three trials.
Spun-off from Amrad and listed on the ASX in 2004, Avexa went from strength to strength after raising $11.5 million through two share offerings in early 2005. The company’s principle research programs focus on the discovery of medicines for treatment of diseases caused by HIV.
Avexa has a suite of intellectual property from its parent company, Amrad, which was then bought by CSL in 2006.
In its half yearly report in December, AVX declared a loss of $15.2 million, however, its total revenue increased 154% to $1.9 million.
