Calibr announces license agreement with Gilead to develop a long-acting HIV antiviral agent for treatment in combination with lenacapavir
Long-acting combination HIV regimens have the potential to transform the future of coordinated HIV clinical care
2024-01-04
(Press-News.org)
LA JOLLA, CA — Calibr, the drug discovery and development division of Scripps Research, today announced Gilead Sciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: GILD) has exercised its option to exclusively license the research institute’s investigational nucleoside reverse transcriptase translocation inhibitor (NRTTI) prodrug. The NRTTI prodrug, designated GS-1614, is a development candidate resulting from a collaboration between Scripps Research and Gilead aimed at advancing a best-in-class long-acting HIV regimen.
Calibr designed and optimized GS-1614 with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Gilead has initiated a Phase 1 clinical study of GS-1614 in healthy volunteers to determine the optimal dose, safety profile and frequency of administration.
Gilead exercised its option with Calibr in connection with Gilead’s collaboration with Merck & Co., Inc. toward the development and commercialization of a long-acting injectable regimen for HIV. Pursuant to that collaboration, Gilead and Merck will evaluate GS-1614, a prodrug of Merck’s islatravir, for use in combination with Gilead’s novel capsid inhibitor, lenacapavir.
HIV remains a global epidemic despite continuous scientific discoveries and person-centric advances in HIV care. To help overcome the HIV epidemic, long-acting options are being developed to help address the differentiated needs and preferences of the wide range of individuals and communities affected by the virus. Research and innovation that focuses on helping to meet the diverse needs of those affected by HIV will have the most significant public health impact by expanding options for all people and communities impacted by a major global public health issue.
“We are excited to collaborate with Gilead on this program,” says Peter Schultz, PhD, President and CEO of Scripps Research and Calibr. “If successful, this program will mark a vital expansion of HIV options. A once every three month or longer injectable like that being investigated by Gilead and Merck could potentially improve health outcomes via greater adherence and reduced emotional burden and stigma for people with HIV. This milestone also represents an important step forward in our mission of translating scientific insights and discoveries into clinical trials to create impact for patients and value for the institute that supports further drug discovery and development efforts.”
Under the collaboration, Calibr receives upfront and near-term milestone payments and will be eligible for development milestones and royalties. Gilead holds an exclusive, worldwide license to GS-1614. Additionally, under the collaboration, GS-1614 potentially can be explored as a pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) option in the future.
As an investigational compound, GS-1614 has not yet been determined safe or efficacious in people with HIV. The ongoing Phase 1a trial aims to establish its safety and long-acting profile in humans.
About Calibr
Calibr was founded on the principle that the creation of new medicines can be accelerated by pairing world-class biomedical research with state-of-the-art drug discovery and development capabilities. Leveraging the unique scientific framework of Scripps Research, Calibr has created a portfolio of drug candidates based on Scripps Research technologies and is shaping a new paradigm for advancing nonprofit biomedical research to impact patients.
About Scripps Research
Scripps Research is an independent, nonprofit biomedical institute ranked one of the most influential in the world for its impact on innovation by Nature Index. We are advancing human health through profound discoveries that address pressing medical concerns around the globe. Our drug discovery and development division, Calibr, works hand-in-hand with scientists across disciplines to bring new medicines to patients as quickly and efficiently as possible, while teams at Scripps Research Translational Institute harness genomics, digital medicine and cutting-edge informatics to understand individual health and render more effective healthcare. Scripps Research also trains the next generation of leading scientists at our Skaggs Graduate School, consistently named among the top 10 U.S. programs for chemistry and biological sciences. Learn more at www.scripps.edu.
END
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2024-01-04
Assessing how seriously injured a person is, involves weighing up lots of different parameters fast. If healthcare professionals could get support making fast-paced, life-critical decisions from an AI tool, more lives could be saved. This is shown by research from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, along with the University of Gothenburg and the University of Borås.
"If severely injured people are transported directly to a university hospital, the chances of survival increase, as there are resources to take care of all types of injuries. Therefore, we need to be able to better say who is severely injured, and who is not, so ...
2024-01-04
The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) is pleased to announce that Dr. Christoph Keller has been appointed as the next Director of the National Science Foundation’s National Solar Observatory (NSO) succeeding Dr. Valentin Pillet, who will be retiring as Director in 2024. Previously Dr. Keller was Director of Science at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. He will begin his five-year term on May 6, 2024.
“Christoph Keller is an outstanding choice for the next NSO Director,” ...
2024-01-04
WASHINGTON, Jan. 4, 2024 – Climate change is one of the biggest issues of the 21st century, a crisis that affects the fate of the entire world as well as our place in it. A warming Earth will destroy ecosystems, flood cities, and lead to countless suffering and death for people worldwide. Part of the challenge of dealing with climate change is helping people understand its complex impacts.
In The Physics Teacher, co-published by AIP Publishing and the American Association of Physics Teachers, researchers from Fordham University partnered with middle and high schools in the Bronx and Manhattan in a citizen ...
2024-01-04
AMHERST, Mass. – A team of computer scientists led by the University of Massachusetts Amherst recently announced a new method for automatically generating whole proofs that can be used to prevent software bugs and verify that the underlying code is correct. This new method, called Baldur, leverages the artificial intelligence power of Large Language Models (LLMs), and, when combined with the state-of-the-art tool Thor, yields unprecedented efficacy of nearly 66%. The team was recently awarded a coveted Distinguished Paper award at the ...
2024-01-04
In a first for USC Stem Cell scientists, the laboratory of Giorgia Quadrato, an assistant professor of stem cell biology and regenerative medicine, has pioneered a novel human brain organoid model that generates all the major cell types of the cerebellum, a hindbrain region predominantly made up of two cell types necessary for movement, cognition, and emotion: granule cells and Purkinje neurons. This marks the first time that scientists have succeeded in growing Purkinje cells that possess the molecular and electrophysiological features of functional neurons in an all-human system. These breakthroughs in organoid-directed brain modeling have been published recently ...
2024-01-04
Researchers have uncovered evidence hinting that the most common bug spray ingredient, DEET, might cause reproductive problems by affecting the formation of egg cells during pregnancy.
The findings come from a study in C. elegans — worms that don’t look like they have much in common with humans yet serve as surprisingly useful bellwethers of how toxins in the environment affect human reproduction.
Get more HMS news here
The research, published Jan. 4 in iScience, raises difficult questions. Chief among them is how to balance the possible reproductive harms ...
2024-01-04
About The Study: The results of this study that included 573,000 persons suggest that hearing loss was associated with increased dementia risk, especially among people not using hearing aids, suggesting that hearing aids might prevent or delay the onset and progression of dementia. The risk estimates were lower than in previous studies, highlighting the need for more high-quality longitudinal studies.
Authors: Manuella Lech Cantuaria, Ph.D., of the University of Southern Denmark in Odense, is the corresponding author. (doi:10.1001/jamaoto.2023.3509)
To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/
Editor’s ...
2024-01-04
About The Study: The findings of this study of 2,709 patients hospitalized with sepsis from 2016 to 2019 at an urban tertiary care center suggest a language-based inequity in outcomes. Further studies are needed to understand drivers of this inequity, how it may manifest in other diverse health systems, and to inform equitable care models for patients with limited English proficiency.
Authors: Neha P. Limaye, M.D., M.P.H., of Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, is the corresponding author.
To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link ...
2024-01-04
BOSTON – New research indicates that the eating disorder anorexia nervosa is associated with being an early riser, unlike many other disorders that tend to be evening-based such as depression, binge eating disorder and schizophrenia.
The study, which is published in JAMA Network Open and led by investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), in collaboration with University College London and the University of the Republic in Uruguay, also revealed a link between anorexia nervosa and insomnia risk.
Previous research has suggested a possible connection between eating disorders and the body’s internal clock, or circadian clock, which controls a wide range of biological ...
2024-01-04
Press release: Princess Máxima Center for pediatric oncology
EMBARGO: JANUARY 4, 2024 AT 11:00 AM ET (US)
A detailed 'atlas' of neuroblastoma tumors points to a new target for immunotherapy. Scientists from the Princess Máxima Center for pediatric oncology in the Netherlands mapped this childhood tumor at the level of individual cancer and immune cells. In doing so, they discovered a brake on the immune system that can be blocked with existing immunotherapy. The results in the lab are promising; preparations for a clinical study are underway.
Every year, 25 children in the Netherlands ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] Calibr announces license agreement with Gilead to develop a long-acting HIV antiviral agent for treatment in combination with lenacapavir
Long-acting combination HIV regimens have the potential to transform the future of coordinated HIV clinical care
