Theratechnologies Inc. said its medicine Trogarzo, or ibalizumab, continued to suppress HIV levels in certain patients, preventing the virus from being transmitted.
The Montreal-based biotechnology said follow-up data from the TMB-311 clinical trial showed that at the 48-week mark, Trogarzo continued viral suppression in HIV-1 patients. TMB-311 was a 24-week study.
The company continued to study the medicine in patients with multidrug-resistant HIV-1 infection who continued to have high levels of the virus in their blood despite antiretroviral therapy. Antiretroviral drugs are medications that do not kill or cure HIV but can slow down or prevent its growth.
Previously, under the first part of TMB-311, 27 patients were studied. Out of this, 59% of patients achieved HIV levels that are considered undetectable and nontransmissible. This does not mean a person is cured, as HIV still remains in the body.
Similarly, in the recent study, 47% of the 38 patients enrolled recorded HIV levels below 50 copies per milliliter, meaning that they cannot transmit HIV.
The results were consistent with a 24-week-long phase 3 trial dubbed TMB-301, where 46% of the 31 patients enrolled had comparable viral load reductions.
Trogarzo is currently approved in the EU and the U.S.
