LIPID SCIENCES COMPLETES STUDY IN SIV-INFECTED NON-HUMAN PRIMATES

Lipid Sciences has completed its exploratory investigation of the therapeutic effect of delipidated autologous virus in chronically Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV)-infected rhesus macaques. SIV is a widely accepted primate model for viral diseases like HIV.

The results of this study, conducted at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center at Emory University, demonstrated that the administration of "autologous" SIV viral antigen delipidated by Lipid Sciences' proprietary delipidation process to chronically SIV-infected non-human primates led to the recognition of new epitopes of the virus by the animals' immune system, which was coincident with an improvement in the general indicators of overall health in these study animals.

Statistical significance was reached both in the long-term survival of these animals as compared to a retrospective, SIV-infected, non-immunized control group, as well as a viral load reduction of approximately 90 percent, that was achieved for the nine months' duration of the study follow-up period, the firm said.