Mymetics 's HIV vacc in late preclinical trials

Mymetics Corp of the USA has been given the green light to commence advanced preclinical testing of its trimeric gp41 vaccine for HIV in nonhuman primates by the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases division of the National Institutes of Health.

The study will run through the end of the third quarter of 2005, evaluating the second generation of HIV vaccines in development, the company said. Based on the results of the trial, Mymetics expects to begin advanced toxicology testing by the end of next year in with a view to filing an Investigational New Drug application in 2006, it noted.

Commenting on the firm's development strategy, chief executive Christian Rochet stated that the group "anticipates signing in 2005 a partnership agreement with a major health sciences company to assist us in human clinical trials, for which we plan to file by 2006, pending the results of our preclinical program."