CytoDyn commences full humanization of Cytolin immune therapy for treating HIV/AIDS
February 28, 2016
Nonetheless, the current study of Cytolin?� anticipates its use in early HIV infection ??� before the antiviral drugs are used, in order to delay disease progression with a drug that cannot cause the virus to become resistant because it has no direct effect on the virus itself. When used for this purpose, Cytolin?� needs to be well tolerated. Patients are often unwilling to endure any discomfort caused by a treatment when they are not yet suffering from the symptoms of a disease and are not in any immediate danger. As a well known example, the flu-like symptoms associated with interferon-alpha too often result in non-compliance on the part of patients with hepatitis.
According to prevailing theory, a fully-humanized version of Cytolin?� will be even less likely than the murine version to cause the side effects sometimes seen when any protein is injected into the human blood stream. These side effects include serum sickness (flu like symptoms), protein sickness (brief lower back pain) and an allergic reaction which, rarely, can be life-threatening if not promptly treated.
CytoDyn expects to have its proprietary, fully-humanized version of Cytolin?� ready for bulk manufacturing this Autumn in time for the follow-up clinical trial. Based on the advice of its patent attorneys, the Company believes its fully-humanized product will be eligible for a new patent to complement and extend its existing portfolio of intellectual property, which includes patents on the use of any such antibodies to treat HIV/AIDS.
SOURCE CytoDyn, Inc.