New generation HIV therapies

Radiant Biotherapeutics, a start-up biotechnology company is developing a revolutionary platform to create antibodies that can deliver therapies for patients with life-changing diseases, announced that it has received a $2 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop the next generation of HIV biologics based on Radiant’s Multabody platform.

According to Pharmiweb, the funding will support a two-year project that will evaluate the effectiveness of the new therapy.

The developers claim that the Multabody platform can address the shortcomings of existing antiviral HIV therapies. The high avidity (stability of the antigen and antibody complex) of Multabody based therapy allows it to attack multiple parts of the virus simultaneously. This allows it to tolerate a high mutation rate and resist multiple types of HIV. They also believe that the new therapy will destroy not only viral particles circulating but also hidden reservoirs of HIV.

Arthur J. Fratamico, President and Chief Executive Officer of Radiant Biotherapeutics, stated: “Our Multabody platform has the potential to address a gap in existing antiviral drugs for the treatment of HIV.”

Recall that researchers at Tulane University (US) have developed a quick test that uses a few drops of blood to detect HIV and tuberculosis (TB). This device can not only detect the two diseases, but also assess viral and bacterial loads.