Founded in 1998, VIRxSYS Corporation is a privately-held biotechnology company which focuses on gene therapy. The field of gene therapy holds great promise. However, most of these promises have been unfulfilled due to challenges in developing a transport system that delivers genetic and therapeutic payloads into targeted cells efficiently, reproducibly, and permanently.
VIRxSYS has developed a gene delivery system (vector) from a human lentivirus for the treatment of serious diseases. The foundational technology was patented by, and is now exclusively licensed from, The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. The Company has advanced these patents and has developed and patented additional technology to apply and manufacture lentiviral vectors.
The first application of VIRxSYS’s lentiviral vector delivery system is for the treatment of HIV/AIDS. Phase II clinical trials are currently under way in the United States to test VRX496, the company’s anti-HIV therapy. VRX496 is designed to reverse the effects of HIV, including reducing the patient's viral load, and preventing the progression of HIV to full-blown AIDS.
Unlike other vectors which have difficulty in delivering therapeutic payloads, preclinical research has shown that payloads delivered via VIRxSYS's lentiviral vector:
In a Phase I clinical trial completed in 2005, a single infusion of VRX496 was shown to be safe and tolerable, and preliminary evidence indicated some antiviral effects even with a dose considered to be sub-optimal.
VIRxSYS is now in two Phase II clinical trials, and anticipates that two additional trials will commence in the first half of 2007.
VIRxSYS is in the process of initiating follow-on applications for the technology including development of an HIV vaccine, and initiating collaborations to develop a lentiviral-based treatment for certain cancers and genetic diseases.
