Immunitor to present latest results from imm01 trial in tuberculosis patients at African conference

Feb 28 2011

Immune Network Ltd. (Pink Sheets:IMMFF) advises that Immunitor will present latest results from its imm01 clinical trial in tuberculosis patients in Abuja, Nigeria at the 18th Union TB and Lung Diseases Conference of the African Region, 2^nd to 5^th March, 2011.

Clinical evidence indicates that Immunitor's V5:

• Clears TB bacteria from patient sputum in one month
• Clears symptoms of TB such as fever and inflammation
• Helps underweight patients re-gain lost weight
• Is effective for drug resistant TB, as well as TB with HIV co-infection
• Reduces adverse side effects of conventional drugs
• Is safe and free of adverse effects even in severely ill patients

About 2,000 participants are expected at the African conference, which will deliberate on problems and solutions for tuberculosis, asthma, pneumonia, lung cancer, TB and HIV, funding for TB research, and new preventive, diagnostic and curative methods to fight TB. In addition, the conference will raise awareness of new developments in the area of equipment and treatment (for further information see: http://afrouniontbconf2011.org/en/welcome.html).

The Immunitor presentation will summarize data from the 120-patient imm01 phase II trial in Ukraine. Preliminary interim results were published in two peer reviewed journals earlier this year (see http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21182457 and http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21244690 ). The study, conducted by internationally recognized experts in TB immunotherapy, compared V5 immunotherapy to placebo among treatment refractory tuberculosis cases including re-treated TB, multi-drug resistant (MDR-TB) and TB with HIV co-infection. After one month, 44/50 patients (88%) became sputum smear negative in the V5 group, whereas only 7/38 (18.4%) in placebo group had converted. The high conversion rate in V5-receiving subjects was similar regardless whether TB was drug-sensitive or drug-resistant or with HIV co-infection. V5 also down-regulated TB-associated inflammation as shown by normalization of mean elevated leukocyte counts and decreased erythrocyte sedimentation rate. V5 was also associated with improvement in weight gain, another important endpoint in TB treatment. No adverse side effects or reactivation of TB attributable to V5 were seen at any time. The investigators concluded that V5 was safe and effective as an immune adjunct to chemotherapeutic management of TB and can shorten substantially the duration of treatment.

After AIDS, tuberculosis is the second most common cause of death from an infectious disease, with approximately 2 million people dying each year. Current treatments are not fully effective, particularly against multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) and HIV-TB, and strenuous treatment regimens lasting for up to 2 years are required.

"Immunitor's products, some of which are approved for sale in African countries, including Nigeria, offer effective and safe treatment solutions. Nigeria ranks 4^th among high burden countries where TB is rampant. V5 is inexpensive, easy to administer, stable at tropical temperature, and is made from readily available sources, which suits ideally developing countries," said Vichai Jirathitikal, co-founder and co-inventor of the Immunitor oral vaccine platform.