NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Diaxonhit today said that Bpifrance has granted it more than €1.7 million ($2.4 million) to develop a companion diagnostic for an AIDS vaccine under development.
The funding results from the Paris diagnostic firm's participation in PROTHEVIH, a project aimed at developing a vaccine against AIDS, as well as diagnostic tests for the personalized care of patients, Diaxonhit said. Biopharmaceutical firm InnaVirVax, which is developing the vaccine, heads the project, which is funded under a program called Strategic Industrial Innovation, funded by Bpifrance, a full service financial company that provides funding to small and medium-sized business in France. The Strategic Industrial Innovation program supports collaborations between academic institutions and industry.
PROTHEVIH will last 56 months and the amount being awarded to the consortium carrying out the project totals more than €9 million, said Diaxonhit, which will develop a companion diagnostic test to measure the level of anti-3S antibodies in patients treated with the vaccine being developed. The test would allow doctors to measure the immune response to vaccine therapy and adjust it as necessary.
Diaxonhit also will develop a diagnostic test to detect anti-3S antibodies secreted by HIV patients. It will collaborate with the Southern Paris Hospital and Bordeaux Hospital to validate the use of anti-3S antibodies as an early biomarker of disease progression, the company said.