Vaccine Info

PennVax-GP HIV Vaccine

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Fact checked by
Robert Carlson, MD
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Description

PennVax-GP has been optimized to target two env antigens, as well as gag and pol antigens. This comprehensive targeting gives PennVax-GP the potential to provide global coverage against HIV-1 subtypes.

Indication

PennVax-GP is a developmental vaccine to prevent and treat HIV strains primarily present in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America.

Dosage

PennVax-GP is delivered intramuscularly using the CELLECTRA® delivery device.

Clinical Trials

Clinical Trial NCT03606213: Therapeutic Vaccination in Treated HIV Disease (Recruiting)

The central premise of our program is that durable control of HIV in the absence of antiretroviral therapy ("remission") will require the generation of de novo potent and sustained HIV-specific CD8+ cell responses that target evolutionarily conserved epitopes.

Our program is inspired by the recent success of VGX-3100 (Inovio), a DNA therapeutic vaccine for HPV that leads to histopathologic regression of pre-malignant lesions in people and is associated with a potent, sustained boost to HPV-specific CD8+ T cell populations.

A closely related multi-clade gag/pol/env DNA vaccine administered with an IL-12 DNA plasmid (PENNVAX, Inovio) has been studied for HIV prevention and is known to be both safe and highly immunogenic. I

n a randomized placebo-controlled study we will compare the immunogenicity and anti-reservoir activities of gag/pol DNA versus gag/pol/env DNA (both administered with IL-12). We will determine for the first time in established HIV disease whether presence of env in a DNA vaccine blunts T cell responses to more conserved Gag-specific and Pol-specific epitopes.

We will also determine if Env-specific responses (which will presumably be mediated by antibodies and ADCC) have a measurable effect on reservoir.

Clinical Trial NCT02431767: Evaluating the Safety and Immunogenicity of PENNVAX®-GP DNA Vaccine and IL-12 Plasmid, Delivered Via Intradermal or Intramuscular Electroporation in Healthy, HIV-Uninfected Adults (Completed)

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the safety and tolerability of the PENNVAX®-GP HIV-1 DNA vaccine and IL-12 DNA adjuvant, given by intradermal (ID) or intramuscular (IM) injection with electroporation (EP), in healthy, HIV-uninfected adults.

All study injections will be given using an EP device, which uses an electric pulse to briefly open tiny pores in the cells. Researchers will evaluate whether EP increases the immune response to the vaccine.

Clinical Trials

No clinical trials found