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Clínic Barcelona

Launch of HIVINNOV, a new research project supported by the European Union with plans to develop new treatments against HIV

The HIVINNOV (Generation of a new class of anti-retrovirals targeting HIV-cellular cofactors interactions) collaborative research project officially started on October 1st 2012. This project is supported by the European Union through the 7th Framework Programme (FP7) with a € 6 million Grant and is coordinated by the french SME “LaboratoireBIODIM”. The IDIBAPS – Hospital Clínic team led by Dr. Josep Maria Gatell is one of the partners of this ambitious initiative.

The HIVINNOV consortium is composed of 6 partners from four different European countries: France (LaboratoireBIODIM, Inserm), UK (University College London, Cancer Research UK), The Netherlands (Academic Medical Center from the Amsterdam Univsersity) and Spain (Fundació Clínic per la Recerca Biomèdica). HIVINNOV aims at developing new anti-retrovirals targeting the interactions between the HIV protein Integrase and its cellular cofactors necessary for viral replication. The project will last 3 years and the goal of this research is to reach the phase I/IIa for a first-in-human clinical trial for a new class of drug candidate.

The current antiretroviral treatments target for most of them the catalytic activity of viral enzymes whereas the compounds developed in HIVINNOV target the interactions between the viral proteins and the cellular cofactors of the host cell. It is expected that the drug that will come out of HIVINNOV will overcome resistance to therapeutics and will be active on all viruses that are resistant against the current antiretroviral treatments.

With over 33 million people infected with HIV worldwide and the continuous raise of resistance in virus population there is a permanent need for new drugs and new classes of drugs. The HIVINNOV consortium develops compounds with a completely new mechanism of action.