US-based biotechnology firm GeoVax Labs has received a notice of allowance from the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for patent that covers compositions, methods and uses of the company's DNA/MVA vaccine in eliciting cellular and humoral immune responses to an HIV antigen.
The patent application exclusively licensed from Emory University and the US Government is entitled, 'Compositions and Methods for Generating an Immune Response'.
According to the company, the allowed claims pursuant to the patent cover advances in the DNA construct portion of its vaccine.
The DNA construct forms the priming vaccine in the company's HIV vaccine regimen and is followed by increasing administrations made up of a modified vaccinia Ankara (MVA) construct.
The preclinical trials in primates have demonstrated that simian analogs of the company's DNA/MVA vaccine offer about 78% per exposure protection against SIV251, a highly virulent strain of simian immunodeficiency virus.
The HIV Vaccine Trials Network is currently sponsoring the Phase I testing in humans in a trial, while the Phase II is scheduled to commence in 2014.