Excision BioTherapeutics Awarded California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) Grant to Support Ongoing Phase 1/2 Trial Evaluating EBT-101 as a Potential Cure for HIV
Summary
CIRM Grant of $6.85 million supports the first-in-human clinical study evaluating the safety and efficacy of EBT-101 in participants people living with HIV EBT-101 is an in vivo CRISPR-based therapeutic designed to remove HIV proviral DNASAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --Excision BioTherapeutics Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing CRISPR-based therapies intended to cure viral infectious diseases, today announced that the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) has awarded Excision a $6.85 million grant to support the clinical development of the EBT-101 program for human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1).Daniel Dornbusch, Chief Executive Officer of Excision, commented, We are honored that CIRM has recognized the potential value of the EBT-101 program and our dual-guide RNA CRISPR approach to developing curative therapies for HIV-1 as well as other serious viral diseases with significant unmet needs. The participant continues to be monitored for safety and is expected to qualify for analytical treatment interruption (ATI) of their background anti-retroviral therapy (ART) in an evaluation of a potential cure.To date only a handful of people have been cured of HIV/AIDS, so this proposal of using gene editing to eliminate the virus could be transformative, says Maria T. Millan, MD, President and CEO of CIRM. The EBT-101 Phase 1/2 trial is an open-label, multi-center single ascending dose study designed to evaluate the safety, tolerability and preliminary efficacy of EBT-101 in approximately nine participants with HIV-1 who are suppressed on antiretroviral therapy. To meet this challenge, our team of highly trained and experienced professionals actively partners with both academia and industry in a hands-on, entrepreneurial environment to fast track the development of todays most promising stem cell technologies. With $5.5 billion in funding and more than 150 active stem cell programs in our portfolio, CIRM is one of the worlds largest institutions dedicated to helping people by bringing the future of cellular medicine closer to reality.