United States-based Inovio Pharmaceuticals has dosed the first participant with PENNVAX-GP in a randomised clinical trial that will evaluate its ability to drive remission of HIV infection, it was reported yesterday.

This vaccine targets all major HIV strains and focuses on improving the capacity of the immune system to eliminate or provide life-long control of HIV. This trial is part of a USD6.95m grant from the NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to produce a therapy using the company's PENNVAX-GP.

This Phase 1/2 HIV trial is a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled study. The trial is divided into two cohorts, with all vaccines delivered through the CELLECTRA device.

Inovio president and CEO, Joseph Kim, said, 'We have already demonstrated that PENNVAX-GP generated the highest overall levels of T cell and antibody immune response rates ever demonstrated by an HIV vaccine in healthy volunteers. Here, we are going after the Holy Grail of HIV treatment – investigating if our vaccine used alone or in combination with other therapies could bring true remission of HIV in patients. The key to this trial is that T cells generated by our vaccines target the body's HIV reservoirs where the infection 'hides' from antiretroviral therapy. Inovio has already shown (in an HPV therapeutics trial) that our immunotherapy can generate sustained T cell responses which are able to traffic to an immunosuppressive tissue environment and eliminate virus-expressing cells. We expect results from this breakthrough study in late 2019.'