GeoVax Labs presents successful human trial results for its HIV/AIDS vaccines

Sep 13 2007

GeoVax Labs, Inc. has announced the presentation of successful human trial results for its HIV/AIDS vaccines at the AIDS Vaccine 2007 Conference held August 20-23, 2007 in Seattle, Washington.

GeoVax HIV/AIDS human trial results were presented by Dr. Paul Goepfert, MD in a talk "HIV-1 DNA Prime followed by Recombinant MVA Boost is Well Tolerated and Immunogenic When Administered to Healthy Seronegative Adults." Dr. Goepfert, from the University of Alabama-Birmingham, is Protocol Chair of HVTN 065, a series of human clinical trials currently evaluating GeoVax's HIV/AIDS vaccine.

GeoVax HIV/AIDS vaccine trial data was presented to over 900 AIDS researchers at the week long conference. Conference Chair, Dr. Lawrence Corey stated, "It has become clear that a preventative vaccine is essential to controlling the global AIDS epidemic." The AIDS Vaccine 2007 Conference was organized under the guidance of the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise, an alliance of independent global organizations dedicated to accelerating preventative AIDS vaccine development.

The conference reported the AIDS epidemic continuing as a global threat with the disease increasing in every region of the world, especially East and Central Asia and Eastern Europe where AIDS incidence was 21% higher in 2006 than in 2004.

Key GeoVax HIV/AIDS Vaccine Human Trial conclusions presented at the AIDS Vaccine 2007 Conference included:

• GeoVax DNA and MVA vaccines are safe and immunogenic (stimulate anti- HIV/AIDS immune responses) at both low (1/10th) dose and full doses.
• GeoVax vaccines were well tolerated with no or mild local and systemic reactions in the majority of trial participants.
• 80% of both the low and full dose trial participants responded to the vaccine which stimulated highly desirable anti-HIV T-cell (white blood cell) and antibody responses.
• More volunteers had antibody responses to the full dose than to the 1/10th dose vaccine, whereas response rates for T cells were similar for the 1/10th and full dose.
• 2nd MVA vaccination positively increased the number of CD8 T cell responders and antibody responders.
• Excellent results led to authorization to start two new trials with GeoVax HIV/AIDS vaccines which began in June 2007.

These human trials, utilizing GeoVax's HIV/AIDS vaccines, are conducted by the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN) based in Seattle, Washington. The HVTN, funded and supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is the largest worldwide clinical trials program devoted to the development and testing of HIV/AIDS vaccines. Preclinical work enabling development of the clinical evaluation of GeoVax's DNA and MVA vaccines was also funded and supported by the NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).