No stress mate. Always remember why we invested in BIT at...

No stress mate. Always remember why we invested in BIT at first. 

Quick recap for new SHs

“No one has done this before, and there were no guidelines to follow. We have had to use a range oftechniques to show that BIT225 has done what we expected it to do i.e. clear out virus from these reservoirs.This has included the development and use of new cutting-edge assays, which has been a time-consumingprocess.

“When we designed this trial, we set up a range of different outcomes to look at. Some of the markers weset out to measure haven’t shown any differences, while others have shown very significant changes – andthese changes clearly indicate that BIT225 is having a unique and significant effect in these subjects.

“One aspect we set out to measure was whether the addition of BIT225 could improve clearance of HIV-1from the blood. Current antiretroviral drugs are extremely efficient at rapidly clearing this virus, and thestudy confirms this. It was not surprising that no additional discernable reductions in blood virus levelswere seen with BIT225, but it was important to measure this. But we saw other significant differences thatclearly show BIT225 is doing something new and different to these current antiretroviral drugs.

“We know that antiretroviral drugs do NOT clear cellular reservoirs. HIV-infected people have to takedrugs for their lifetime to keep virus under control. This trial shows for the first time that there may be away to clear one of the main cellular reservoirs. This is a major step to the ultimate goal of curing HIV-1infection.”