InMed Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (OTCQB: IMLFF) is a preclinical-stage biopharmaceutical company specializing in the development of novel therapeutics leveraging the pharmacological benefits of cannabinoids. Utilizing its proprietary bioinformatics assessment tool, InMed aims to identify bioactive compounds found within the cannabis plant that have the potential to offer optimized therapeutic benefit while demonstrating limited adverse effects. This assessment tool, in combination with the company’s cannabinoid biosynthesis technology and drug development pipeline, serves as InMed’s fundamental value driver.

Bioinformatics is a proprietary, computer-based program designed to assist in the identification of novel cannabinoids using comprehensive algorithms to integrate data from numerous bioinformatics databases, as well as a database on the structure of currently approved pharmaceutical products and an extensive database on over 90 individual cannabinoid drugs found in cannabis. This extensive collection of data is derived from both public and propriety-based sources. Leveraging this tool, the company aims to create associations between approved pharmaceuticals and cannabinoids with similar structures in order to identify active cannabinoids that have the potential to treat specific diseases. Per InMed’s website, this type of bioinformatics assessment represents “significant promise for future drug discovery, as it integrates many data sets and builds holistic models to approach a specific disease.”

After discovering these promising active cannabinoids, InMed moves to test and confirm their activity in biological systems through in vitro and in vivo experimentation. It is at this stage of development that the company’s proprietary biosynthesis process of cannabinoid manufacturing will be most promising. InMed is currently developing a robust, high-yield biosynthesis process for manufacturing all 90+ naturally-occurring cannabinoids. By modifying the agriculture-based formula for harvesting cannabinoids, InMed aims to combine the inherent safety and known efficacy of the natural drug structure with the convenience, control and quality of 21st Century laboratory-based manufacturing processes.

The company’s pipeline currently includes two drug candidates in preclinical development, including INM-750 for the treatment of epidermolysis bullosa (EB) and INM-085 for the treatment of glaucoma. Referred to by the Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa Research Association of America as “The Worst Disease You’ve Never Heard Of,” EB is a rare genetic connective tissue disorder that affects roughly one out of every 20,000 births in the United States. The condition currently has no approved treatment or cure. Through the development of INM-750, InMed is attempting to address this significant unmet medical need. The drug candidate replaces missing keratins in the skin with specially selected cannabinoids in an effort to modulate the painful manifestations of EB.

INM-085, InMed’s second development candidate, is formulated to reduce the elevated intra-ocular pressure that is often associated with glaucoma. Additionally, the cannabinoids utilized in INM-085 are expected to provide neuroprotection for the retinal ganglion cells and other optic nerve tissues following topical administration. Although it is still in preclinical development, INM-085 targets a sizable market. According to the Glaucoma Research Foundation, glaucoma is a leading cause of blindness with no approved cure. The National Institutes of Health estimates that more than 3 million Americans currently have glaucoma, and more than 120,000 have been blinded by the disease.

InMed is focused on progressing toward validation of its drug candidate selection, using data to secure its patents and developing key disruptive technologies. In 2016, the company was successful in completing financings of $1.9 million. In January 2017, InMed completed a non-brokered private placement of common shares generating aggregate gross proceeds of C$1.5 million, strongly positioning the company to attract the new investment required to fund its aggressive growth strategies in 2017.

The company’s management team has well over a century of combined experience in the biopharmaceutical space. Company CEO Eric Adams has more than 25 years of experience in company and capital formation, global market development, mergers and acquisitions, licensing and corporate governance. During his time as CEO of enGene Inc., he led the gene therapy startup to a position at the head of the industry.

Joining Adams on the InMed management team are Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Sazzan Hossain; Senior Vice President, Clinical and Regulatory Affairs Alexandra D.J. Mancini; SVP, Corporate Strategy & Investor Relations Chris Bogart; and Chief Financial Officer Jeff Charpentier, as well as Chief Medical Officer Dr. Ado Muhammed, MD, DPM, MFPM.

Muhammed, in particular, has an extensive history in the pharmaceutical industry, having previously served as an executive of GW Pharmaceuticals, a global leader in the development of cannabinoid-based medicines. During his time as Associate Medical Director of that company, Muhammed played an instrumental role in the development and FDA approval of one of the first cannabis drugs. This GW Pharmaceuticals development program coincided with a sharp rise in share price from less than $9 in 2013 to more than $129 today, with the company’s current market value totaling more than $2.9 billion.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.InMedPharma.com

The smartphone has become the computer we carry with us everywhere, and it has changed the way the world transacts business. Smartphones are now powerful mini-computers, personal assistants, and mobile shopping carts. From the advent of the smartphone 10 years ago, there are now an estimated 4.8 billion users globally. In just over a decade, these ubiquitous devices have created transformational business opportunities. The mobile payments industry is flourishing from this growth.

By 2014, 14 percent of all mobile users in the U.S. had made a mobile payment, and a year later it was 39 percent. Some estimates suggest that over 60 percent of U.S. mobile users will utilize mobile payments by the end of this year. Globally, the growth numbers are even more impressive. The mobile payments industry is profiting as it meets the surging demands of users.

Even before 2012, when Net Element’s (NASDAQ: NETE) subsidiary was recognized as one of the fastest growing companies in America, the company was at the vanguard of global mobile payment solutions. Net Element enables global commerce by providing merchants electronic payment solutions to process transactions through the company’s various integrated platforms. The company owns and operates TOT Group, a global mobile payments processing provider, and Aptito, a cloud-based point of sale payments platform. The company also owns and operates one of the leading providers of SMS messaging and mobile billing solutions, Digital Provider, and a fully-integrated electronic commerce platform, PayOnline.

Net Element has established partnerships with American Express, MasterCard, Discover, Visa, and other international financial institutions to meet the expansive needs of a global customer base. The company has continued to enjoy success and was recently recognized as one of the Top 25 Fastest-Growing Technology Companies by the South Florida Business Journal in 2016.

Technology has dramatically altered the way we transact business over the last 10 years. The planet is moving to mobile payments, and Net Element offers a way to profit from this transition.

For more information, visit www.NetElement.com

Health care costs in the U.S. have been rising rapidly over the decades and data provided by the Kaiser Family Foundation (http://dtn.fm/Xfs0F) show the extent of that rise. In 1960, total national expenditure on health care was $27.2 billion, amounting to 5 percent of GDP. In 2015, it had climbed to $3.2 trillion, increasing by an astounding 11,785 percent to 17.8 percent of National Income (GDP). The causes are diverse: a combination of factors that include greater demand for health services and a population that is living longer. But the solutions have been less obvious. Now, ORHub, Inc. (OTC: ORHB) is offering a digital platform it believes will substantially lower costs. The ORHub system significantly decreases cost and improves outcomes by eliminating inefficiencies, duplication of effort, and errors and omissions that result from siloed processes in software and poor handoffs from one part of the care process to another.

At present, many of the systems that handle accountability, billing and inventory management in the 150 million annual surgical operations are manual. Consequently, processing takes a long time, with large numbers of unhappy vendors having to wait for 90 or 120 days to get paid. In addition, manual systems are labor intensive, requiring high-cost staff, but many back-office processes in the health care information management system can be handled faster and with less error by automation.

A McKinsey study (http://dtn.fm/2RwJg) demonstrates the extent of the problem. It reports that ‘fifteen cents of every US healthcare dollar go toward revenue cycle inefficiencies’. That would mean close to half a trillion dollars ‘go to claims processing, payments, billing, revenue cycle management (RCM), and bad debt—in part, because half of all payor-provider transactions involve outdated manual methods, such as phone calls and mailings.’ The study warns that for hospitals to survive requires ‘aggressive automation’.

However, RCM IT systems cost a packet. For example, Scripps Health, a nonprofit health care system, recently ‘spent nearly $19.9 million on software and hardware to make the switch to ICD-10’ (http://dtn.fm/h9ImE). ICD-10 is a medical classification system for diseases and related health problems.

The San Diego, California-based provider, which operates four hospitals and 19 outpatient facilities and treats half a million patients annually through 2,600 affiliated physicians, expects to expend $360.5 million over the next 10 years to upgrade its inpatient and ambulatory electronic health record (EHR) and revenue cycle management (RCM) systems. Faced with such financial hurdles, hospitals and other health care providers are likely to turn to cloud-based solutions. McKinsey expects ‘that RCM outsourcing will take off over the next several years— potentially, up to 40 percent of providers may consider end-to-end outsourcing in the near future’.

ORHub already has its foot in the door of this market. The production version of the first release of its digital platform is currently in daily use at two regional hospitals. ORHub plans to gain a dominant share of the surgical market. The company estimates the segment at about 150 million surgeries annually, a number that is expected to grow with demographic trends.

The company will focus its marketing efforts on major national hospital operations. Even though there are around 5,600 hospitals in the United States, 80% of surgeries are performed by the top 12 hospital ownership groups and performed at the 1,100 largest surgical hospitals.

ORHub is transforming the business of surgery. By creating a new category of health care IT vertical-specific software known as Surgical Resource Management, the company is offering enhanced capabilities over traditional EHR solutions in the operating room. The ORHub platform, which employs Microsoft’s Azure Cloud, is at present the subject of a study in which its impact on participating institutions is being assessed. The study, funded by Microsoft and Intel, will be concluded sometime in Q2 2017.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.ORhub.com

When Christopher Columbus introduced the pineapple to Europe in the late fifteenth century, he undoubtedly would have had no idea that extracts from the plant could be used to treat severe thermal burns. Yet, 500 years later, a next-generation proteolytic enzyme platform for wound debridement, NexoBrid, derived from pineapples, has been developed by MediWound Ltd. (NASDAQ: MDWD). Now, positive results from a Phase II study evaluating NexoBrid will be used to support a request to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to extend the label for NexoBrid to larger burns. The painstaking research undertaken by niche specialty biotech MediWound is beginning to bear fruit.

That research has laid bare one ‘secret’ of the medicine practiced traditionally by natives of South and Central America and developed on it to improve the treatment of wounds. Pineapples, it turns out, are a rich source of proteolytic enzymes, referred to generally as bromelain, which promote healing in wounds by stimulating debridement, the removal of dead tissue and foreign material. Proteolytic enzymes remove this necrotic tissue, known as eschar, at a much faster rate than would occur otherwise. To harness this powerful chemical process, MediWound has developed its proteolytic enzyme platform. NexoBrid is a concentrate derived from a mixture of proteolytic enzymes extracted from the stem of the pineapple plant, enriched in bromelain. The drug is indicated for removal of eschar in adults with deep partial- and full-thickness thermal burns.

Last month, MediWound announced positive results from a Phase II study that evaluated the safety, pharmacokinetics (transcutaneous absorption) and efficacy of NexoBrid in hospitalized children and adults with severe thermal burns. The multicenter, open-label, single-arm study was conducted in Europe, Israel and India and included 36 patients with severe burns of 4 percent to 30 percent total body surface area (TBSA).

NexoBrid was applied to burns of up to 15 percent TBSA in one session, and when the wound area to be treated was more than 15% TBSA, NexoBrid was applied in two separate sessions, each up to 15 percent TBSA. Trial results showed that the use of NexoBrid was safe and effective. Furthermore, the pharmacokinetic profile following NexoBrid’s first and second topical application was comparable, suggesting no concern with accumulation following a second topical application of NexoBrid. As a result, the company intends to send requests to the FDA and EMA to extend the label for NexoBrid to larger burns.

MediWound is a fully integrated biopharmaceutical company focused on developing, manufacturing and commercializing novel therapeutics based on its patented proteolytic enzyme technology to address unmet needs in the fields of severe burns, as well as chronic and other hard-to-heal wounds. Its first innovative biopharmaceutical product, NexoBrid, received marketing authorization from the European Medicines Agency for removal of dead or damaged tissue, known as eschar, in adults with deep partial- and full-thickness thermal burns and has already been launched in Europe.

MediWound’s second innovative product, EscharEx®, is a topical biological drug being developed for debridement of chronic and other hard-to-heal wounds, a large and growing market. EscharEx® is complementary to the large number of existing wound healing products, which require a clean wound bed in order to heal the wound. EscharEx®contains the same proteolytic enzyme technology as NexoBrid® and benefits from the wealth of existing development data on NexoBrid®.

Aegis Capital, which initiated coverage on MediWound late last year, has issued a ‘Buy’ rating on the stock, setting a price target of $11.00. The stock, under the symbol MDWD, currently trades on the NASDAQ at around $6.00.

For more information, visit www.MediWound.com

For companies trying to keep up with technology, social media, interactive customer acquisition, and customer loyalty programs, all while trying to grow a brick and mortar business, it can be a daunting task. To attract new customers on multiple interactive levels can require hiring entire departments of personnel to set up, organize, and execute effective strategies. It can be costly, time consuming, and require ongoing management. In Asia, more and more small- and medium-sized businesses are turning to Moxian (NASDAQ: MOXC) for turnkey solutions to all of these challenges.

Moxian operates a social network platform that integrates social media and business into a single platform and offers products, features, and services to attract and maintain customers. The company’s online platforms and mobile applications, the Moxian+ User app and the Moxian+ Business app, allow businesses to interface with both existing and new customers. These interactions provide each business the data to analyze consumer likes, dislikes, and trends. Moxian’s platform gives businesses the ability to create, manage, and promote individualized customer loyalty programs, targeted advertising campaigns, and special promotions. It allows small to mid-sized companies to single source their social media marketing while creating new customers.

With offices strategically located in China, Malaysia, and Hong Kong, Moxian is positioned to benefit from one of the world’s fastest growing consumer markets. According to a China Daily cited 2015 study (http://nnw.fm/I9b84) done by Boston Consulting Group and the research arm of Alibaba Group, AliResearch, China is projected to remain one of the world’s fastest-growing consumer markets through 2020, reaching $6.5 trillion in annual private consumption even if annual GDP growth slows to 5.5 percent over the next five years. The report also stated that because of the nature of consumer consumption changes, which are dramatic, the winning strategies of the past are becoming outdated, and it’s more important than ever for businesses to make good strategic decisions in the way they target and attract consumers. Moxian provides businesses the strategic solutions to target and attract new customers in a booming marketplace.

For more information, visit www.Moxian.com

India Globalization Capital, Inc. (NYSE MKT: IGC) is a company in transition, now targeting pharmaceutical development in the U.S., while curtailing other businesses such as electronics trading in Hong Kong. IGC long-term plans are to establish and extend its development of phytocannabinoid-based pharmaceutical products to treat diseases such as epilepsy and cachexia. The company expects to file more patents and develop additional intellectual property in the health care industry.

In the U.S., IGC develops phytocannabinoid-based treatments for epilepsy, seizures and cachexia. The goal in 2017, per CEO Ram Mukunda, is for the company to expand its cannabis-based portfolio, indicating that IGC will begin preclinical trials of IGC-501-Pain, IGC-502-Seizures and IGC-504-Cachexia (http://dtn.fm/bv91H). The company has formed a Phytocannabinoid Development Committee to review global medical facilities prior to beginning its preclinical trials. Toxicity evaluation and pharmacological assessments will be performed on each compound in preclinical trials.

Based in Bethesda, Maryland, IGC also manages real estate, leasing and development of properties. In India, it leases heavy equipment. In Malaysia, it manages commercial and residential real estate. In Hong Kong, the company previously operated a electronics business, but it has subsequently moved away from that activity. Long term, IGC aims to establish itself as a specialty pharmaceutical provider. It has already filed five provisional patents for its phytocannabinoid-based pharmaceutical and nutraceutical products in the U.S.

For more information, please refer to www.IGCInc.us

On Wednesday, Pressure BioSciences, Inc. (OTCQB: PBIO) announced that it has received the award for ‘Best New Instrument For Sample Preparation 2017’ from Corporate America News (http://dtn.fm/CAg47) for its Barocycler 2320Extreme.

The unit is the most recent product added to PBIO’s Barocycler line. It is a smaller device designed for preparing protein samples for review. It is sold to the life science market, which is valued at roughly $6 billion, according to industry data.

Pressure BioSciences, Inc. develops and sells laboratory instrumentation. It manufactures products in static and alternating pressure. The company says it has installed more than 250 of its systems in 160 sites globally. While its focus is on forensics and biomarker discovery, its products are also utilized in vaccine manufacturing and drug discovery, design and histology.

The award was given to PBIO by Corporate America News as part of its 2017 North American Excellence Awards. Targeting the U.S. business market, the magazine has a circulation of some 135,000.

“We are honored to have been selected for this prestigious award,” Dr. Nate Lawrence, PBIO’s VP of marketing and sales, stated in a news release. “It was just eight months ago when we launched this next-generation Barocycler instrument, the EXT 2320. Since then, the instrument has been purchased by key scientists in academic, government, biotech and pharma labs worldwide, including institutions involved in the Cancer Moonshot Initiative. We believe this award affirms the significant potential of the Barocycler 2320.”

Richard T. Shumacher, president and CEO of PBIO, described in the magazine the specific features and benefits of the Barocycler 2320Extreme. He also discussed the history of the company and its future growth potential.

“In addition to our patented and cutting edge technology platform, we have both a hard-working, results-driven management and support team, and an experienced and supportive Board of Directors,” Shumacher said. “We believe that the combination of these factors will help ensure the success of our company with a concomitant strong return-on-investment for stakeholders in [PBIO].”

For more information, visit www.PressureBiosciences.com

Now that production of its next generation award-winning controlled-release cannabidiol (CBD) functional chewing gum, CanChew Plus™, has kicked off, Axim Biotechnologies (OTCQB: AXIM) has boosted its diverse billion-dollar product portfolio with another strong growth brand. With so many golden eggs in its brand basket, the company is expecting strong top line growth in the near future. Current revenue projections show AXIM could soon earn the rarified rank of unicorn.

AXIM is looking ahead to a bright future with an uplisting to either the NYSE or NASDAQ. The company’s strong sales projections are built on a number of factors. The company’s vertically-integrated supply chain speeds up logistics and reduces costs. It also facilitates full manufacturing capabilities at facilities in Almere in The Netherlands. AXIM has a healthy intellectual property (IP) portfolio that includes over 10 patents and over 20 trademarks, and the company has close to 20 products in various developmental stages.

AXIM’s product line is based on hemp, a cousin to marijuana classified under the same botanical category of cannabis sativa. The major difference between the two is that marijuana has significant amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) (5–20%), a psychotropic cannabinoid that will get you ‘high’. Hemp, on the other hand, has virtually no THC (less than 0.3%), but it is rich in cannabidiol (CBD) and cannabigerol (CBG).

Both CBD and CBG appear to offer benefits in treating some medical conditions. The AXIM product pipeline includes drug candidates to treat multiple sclerosis/pain spasticity, Parkinson’s disease, dementia, restless legs syndrome (RLS), Crohn’s disease, opioid addiction/cannabis dependence, tobacco smoking cessation, post-herpetic neuralgia, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), inflammatory bowel disease, psoriasis/atopic dermatitis, glaucoma, and dry eye.

CanChew®, which contains 50 mg of hemp oil and 10 mg of CBD, is meant to alleviate IBS and inflammatory bowel disease. It is the world’s first patented controlled-release cannabinoid chewing gum. The new formulation, CanChew Plus™, contains the same active ingredients and is 60 percent smaller than the original CanChew® gums for an improved chewing experience. In addition, CanChew Plus™ offers an improved oral mucosal delivery system through microencapsulation that increases the bioavailability of the active ingredient from less than 50 percent, with CanChew®, to an absorption rate of 80 percent of CBD, after just 30 minutes of chewing.

In 2017, Axim plans to release CanChew® chewing gum as a food supplement. The company also intends to initiate a number of clinical studies for the product, including its evaluation in treating chronic pain and spasticity in patients with multiple sclerosis.

Currently trading at just under $10.00, the stock, under the symbol AXIM, peaked at $19.00 earlier this year. The folks at Motley Fool think it’s a good bet (http://dtn.fm/RK2ew), surmising that ‘investors were excited about the potential for Axim’s hemp-based chewing gum.’ They also called it ‘one of the best marijuana stocks this year’ in a 2016 report. Axim might just repeat that performance in 2017.

For more information, visit www.AximBiotech.com

SinglePoint, Inc. (OTC: SING) has a considerable stake in the state of the legal cannabis industry. Among other things, SinglePoint is a holding company for SingleSeed, a company that provides payment services, solutions, and support for the cannabis industry. Working in tandem, SinglePoint and SingleSeed share resources and offer non-cash payment solutions, such as: Pay by Text solutions that allow customers to pay for products using their mobile phones; point of sale terminals that provide customers the convenience of using debit/credit cards right at checkout; text mobile marketing solutions; and text message marketing.

SingleSeed exists to inform and educate shopkeepers and customers on vital issues in the retail and medicinal cannabis markets while also helping to legitimize the industry. The company strives to stay ahead of industry changes and continuously innovates and improves its tools and technologies, in large part, so it can help cannabis shopkeepers become better business owners.

Up until a couple of years ago, SinglePoint primarily provided mobile solutions for small to mid-size businesses, nonprofits and religious organizations. Among other things, the corporation offered mobile payment, marketing and technology solutions for these industries, and it enabled its clients to conduct business transactions, accept donations, and engage in targeted communications through mobile devices.

Then, two years ago, SinglePoint identified a vast business opportunity in the provision of credit card payment processing to merchants engaging in the cannabis industry and installed cashless ATMs at some 200 medical and recreational dispensaries spread throughout Colorado and Washington State. So far, bureaucracy at the federal government level has kept this business on hold, yet the company’s network of clients is expected to prove invaluable if and when regulators open up the market by giving the company an ‘in’ to payment processing for cannabis clients.

Fast-forward to today, the company maintains its cashless ATM terminals as a way for clients to get a cash advance to finance cannabis purchases. It is also using www.SingleSeed.com to compile a list of interested clients, and it has a connect-by-text marketing platform that enables cannabis businesses to communicate directly with customers in a way that adheres with strict cannabis-related marketing regulations.

The reality of a marijuana industry served by the commercial banking industry is one that SinglePoint and SingleSeed are both chasing. SinglePoint, through SingleSeed Payments, already offers payment processing solutions, mobile marketing services and more for the cannabis industry. It also has plans to acquire and invest in other companies operating within this space. As such, the establishment of a truly “bankable” marijuana industry would have far-reaching, profitable implications for both of these companies.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Singlepoint.com

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New forms of treatment based on monoclonal antibodies show a lot of promise for human immunodeficiency virus patients with drug resistance or limited treatment options, according to HIV/AIDS researchers at this year’s edition of the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2017), which was held last month in Seattle (http://nnw.fm/Co5Ma). Researchers focused on two monoclonal antibody therapies – PRO 140 from CytoDyn Inc. (OTCQB: CYDY) and Ibalizumab from TaiMed Biologics, both of which have shown impressive results during clinical trials as long-acting therapies for HIV patients with limited options because of HIV drug resistance.

PRO 140 is currently in two Phase 3 clinical trials and has several potential benefits compared to regular HIV therapies, including minimal side effects, hardly any toxicity, and less frequent dosing. Part of a new class of therapeutics designed to protect healthy cells from viral infection, PRO 140 in its current form is administered by weekly subcutaneous injection, and all of the research so far has indicated that it can maintain viral suppression for a long time (current patients on PRO 140 single agent therapy are going more than two years). PRO 140 works by blocking one of the two co-receptors the human immunodeficiency virus uses to enter cells – CCR5. It is estimated that about 70 percent of HIV patients in the United States and Europe and up to 90 percent of newly diagnosed cases carry a CCR5-using form of the virus (R5 strain of HIV).

Details of the innovative therapy, which has been granted fast track candidate status by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, were presented at CROI 2017 by Amarex Clinical Research’s Dr. Kush Dhody, who oversees CytoDyn’s clinical trials. An early study of PRO 140 and its effects showed that a single IV infusion generated significant antiviral activity, while a follow-up study showed that weekly subcutaneous PRO 140 injections also reduced viral load exponentially. Most of the findings presented at the CROI Conference came from an extension study of a Phase 2b trial that looked into PRO 140 being used as a single agent maintenance therapy for patients with viral suppression after following standard combination antiretroviral therapy.

The study included a total of 42 patients, all of them with CCR5-tropic HIV, who were on stable antiretroviral therapies with undetectable viral load. Participants received weekly subcutaneous injections of PRO 140 for one week only while being on their regular treatments. After the first week, the patients continued only with PRO 140. Twenty-two participants of the 42 maintained viral suppression throughout the main course of the study (12 weeks). From the 16 patients who were given the option to continue with this therapy in an extension arm, 11 are still on this therapy.

Dhody explained that 13 of these 16 patients (or 81 percent) maintained viral suppression for more than 40 weeks. Ten of these (63 percent) maintained suppression for more than two years and were still undergoing PRO 140 monotherapy at the time when the results of the study were released. Of the other patients, five experienced viral rebound after 100 to 700 days, while one person moved away and no longer participated in the study. As for side effects, PRO 140 was safe and well tolerated by patients, with no serious adverse reactions reported.

The results of the study are very encouraging, researchers said, and they support the continued development of this therapy as a single-agent, long-acting treatment for HIV patients who are not satisfied with the quality of life they have with regular antiretroviral therapies as they experience toxicity, intolerance or resistance to them. Maintenance monotherapy with PRO 140 is currently being studied in a larger clinical trial (a Phase 3), as researchers are trying to identify which factors may predict good treatment response.

The other monoclonal antibody therapy discussed at CROI 2017, Ibalizumab, showed modest antiviral activity when administered via IV infusion every two weeks, together with optimized antiretroviral therapy. Compared to PRO 140, Ibalizumab is effective against HIV that uses either CCR5 or CXCR4 co-receptors.

For more information, visit www.CytoDyn.com