AEGiS-GMHC: DRUG WATCH: Repligen Meets with Activists

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1993. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

DRUG WATCH: Repligen Meets with Activists

Gay Men's Health Crisis: Treatment Issues, Volume 7 no. 5 - May, 1993
David Gold

Repligen held a series of meeting with activists to discuss development of the company's V3 loop HIV vaccine and Platelet Factor 4 (PF-4), its anti-Kaposi's sarcoma drug. The V3 loop is found on a stretch of the gp120 protein. Repligen researchers suggest that a V3 loop vaccine causes a strong immune response. A Phase I trial in 24 HIV-positive individuals is scheduled to begin shortly. The company also presented results from a Phase I trial of PF-4. In the study, the drug was administered at the site of KS lesions (intralesionally). The 12 trial participants had KS with a median CD4 count of 65. No "measured tumor regression" was seen (using standard measurements). However the company noted that the physicians, who were blinded as to which lesions were being treated with PF-4, were able to identify the treated lesions 67 percent of the time (we confess to being unsure as to exactly what this means). Repligen officials have thus concluded that "PF-4 appears to have slowed the growth of KS lesions in comparison to placebo." No major toxicities were seen and the company is planning to begin three trials this summer using three different methods of administering PF-4: intralesionally, subcutaneously, and intravenously.

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