SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Exavir Therapeutics, a company dedicated to transforming the lives of patients with chronic viral infections and CNS disorders with ultra-long-acting therapeutics, today announced that the company has received a $3M award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a division of the National Institute of Health (NIH), to support the development of XVIR-110.
XVIR-110 is an ultra-long-acting HIV integrase inhibitor with a preclinical profile that suggests best-in-class potential for HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), and for HIV treatment as the cornerstone of a next-generation multi-drug regimen.
“We are thankful for the NIH’s support of American companies and innovative biotechnology, particularly in an area like HIV / AIDS that affects so many millions of people worldwide,” said Alborz Yazdi, co-founder and CEO of Exavir. “This award speaks to XVIR-110’s transformative potential, but also the importance of American agencies and public-private partnerships in improving population health outcomes. We look forward to filing our IND in short order to mark our transition to a clinical-stage company, and to fighting for our mission of transforming the lives of patients with chronic disease using ultra-long-acting medicines.”
“XVIR-110 has demonstrated ultra-long-acting pharmacokinetics in preclinical models, appropriate for dosing as infrequently as once-every-six-months or longer,” said Mark Cockett, Chief Scientific Advisor to Exavir. “This agent shows attenuated injection site reactions compared to commercially available Q2M cabotegravir in head-to-head animal studies, and also avoids drug-drug-interactions due to CYP3A and other mechanisms that may be present with investigational capsid inhibitors or ‘third-generation’ INSTIs and could limit the potential for use in a broad patient population.”
“This award is a testament to the strength of the data package in hand for our ultra-long-acting HIV integrase inhibitor,” said Brian Kearney, Chief Scientific Officer at Exavir. “The support of the NIH will catalyze our mission to rapidly advance XVIR-110 into development as the first Q6M+ INSTI, and the only ultra-long-acting agent with the potential clinical profile for widespread adoption by a broad group of patients with unmet medical need.”
About Exavir Therapeutics, Inc.
Exavir Therapeutics is a San Francisco, CA-based biotechnology company dedicated to developing transformative ultra-long-acting therapeutics for patients with chronic viral infections and central nervous system disorders.
HIV is one of the world's most serious public health challenges: it is estimated that there are more than 37 million people living with HIV worldwide, nearly 1.2 million people living with HIV in the United States alone. Approximately $30 billion is spent annually on HIV antiretroviral drugs worldwide.
