HIV DNA vaccine(FIT Biotech Oy)

CUT*HIVTHER 001 is a randomised placebo-controlled Phase I/II study aimed at exploring the safety and immunogenicity of two different modes of delivery of a GTU® DNA plasmid vaccine (GTU®-multiHIV B clade) in HIV infected volunteers on antiretroviral therapy (ART):
Transcutaneous (TC) delivery to enhance intramuscular delivery and
Electroporation (EP) enhanced intramuscular delivery Participants will be randomised 1:1:1 to TC:EP:saline for the purposes of analysis. Half the saline group will receive TC saline and half will receive EP saline.
30 HIV infected male and female volunteers aged 18-45 years, who have been on ART for at least 6 months with 2 or more HIV plasma viral load measurements < 50 copies HIV RNA/ml prior to enrolment.
The investigational HIV-1 vaccine GTU®-MultiHIV B clade encodes for a MultiHIV antigen which is a synthetic fusion protein consisting of full-length polypeptides of Rev, Nef, Tat, p17 and p24 and containing more than 20 Th and CTL epitopes of protease, reverse transcriptase (RT) and gp160 regions of the HAN2 HIV-1 B clade.
Vaccine is provided in sealed vials at 2mg/ml, and a single 1ml IM injection of 2mg GTU®-MultiHIV DNA IM (into the thigh) is required to deliver a 2mg dose. Individuals in Group 2 will receive a further 0.4mg GTU®-MultiHIV DNA in 0.2ml administered by TC, a novel needle-free method of vaccine delivery.

The combination of GTU-MultiHIV B DNA and LIPO-5 vaccines in a prime-boost strategy is expected to induce strong and diverse HIV-specific immune responses in HIV-infected patients. The investigators will carry out the clinical therapeutic immunization "proof of concept" trial in HIV infected patients. The investigators propose a multi-center double blind randomized versus placebo phase II clinical trial in patients who are chronic asymptomatic HIV-infected patients, with undetectable viral load while treated with a potent combination of antiviral drugs. Patients will continue antiviral therapy combined with either therapeutic vaccination or placebo vaccination. Patients will undergo the procedure which includes a prime with the GTU-MultiHIV B DNA vaccine or placebo administered by IM injections via Biojector (a needle-free injection system) followed by a boost of LIPO-5 vaccine or placebo also given IM.
In total, 105 HIV-1 patients will be enrolled: 35 in the placebo arm and 70 in the vaccine arm. Patients will receive antiretroviral treatments and 3 administrations of DNA vaccine or its placebo at weeks 0, 4 and 12 (corresponding to prime vaccinations). They also receive 2 doses of LIPO-5 vaccines or its placebo at week 20 and 24 (corresponding to boost vaccinations). At week 36 antiretroviral treatments will be interrupted until week 48. Patients will be intensely monitored during the treatment interruption period. After start of cART treatment (at the latest in W48), a data collection from clinical car will be carried out. A blood sample with W74 will allow to study the persistence ot the immunizing responses, 1 year after the injection of the last vaccine/placebo.
The primary efficacy endpoint is a plasma HIV-1 RNA level at week 48 (e.g. 12 weeks after stopping all antiviral treatment).
The main hypothesis for conducting a phase II randomized trial is that immune responses in vaccinated patients may be associated with a better control of viral replication following c-ART interruption as compared to placebo-vaccinated patients.