At the recent AIDS2022 conference in Montreal, Canada, the International AIDS Society (IAS) formally launched the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise Industry Partnership Group during the satellite session “Swinging into full gear: Strengthening industry engagement in HIV vaccine research and development”. This partnership – of which WHV is now a proud member – is a multi-stakeholder group aiming to support industry’s contribution to HIV vaccine R&D by addressing and minimizing barriers to engagement.
Dr. Shan Lu, the original developer of WHV’s polyvalent DNA/Protein HIV Vaccine PDPHV, attended the partnership program inaugural session at AIDS2022 on July 29th, representing WHV as an industry partner. “We cannot successfully develop an HIV vaccine unless industry and academia work closely together”, Dr. Lu’s words during the panel discussion that perfectly summarize the history behind WHV. In 2018, WHV was brought to life as a small biotech startup that licensed PDPHV from Dr. Lu’s lab at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School (UMMS) to advance the HIV vaccine candidate through early clinical trial testing. As part of WHV’s product development program, the new biotech company quickly became the IND holder and sponsor of the currently ongoing phase 1b WHV138 trial testing the safety and immunogenicity of PDPHV. The preceding phase 1a HVTN124 trial, which was sponsored by the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN) and funded by the National Institute of Health (NIH), successfully concluded early last year. The HVTN124 trial tested PDPHV under a different vaccine administration regimen than WHV138 and showed that PDPHV has a good safety profile with remarkable immunogenicity data. The accomplishments of WHV’s clinical partners and considering that the phase 2 grade investigational vaccine product is already manufactured and ready for subsequent clinical testing demonstrate an unprecedented success story for a small biotech company like WHV in the HIV vaccine field. “Currently, there is no other industry entity in the world like WHV whose sole dedication is to develop a safe and effective HIV vaccine”, Dr. Lu points out, highlighting the need for closer collaboration between various stakeholders focusing on vaccine discovery, development, clinical research, manufacturing, and distribution in order to efficiently move HIV vaccine candidates from the bench to the clinic and to eventually use as a much-needed tool in the fight against the global HIV pandemic.
