A Rockville company that only started in June is going public through a business combination with 10X Capital Venture Acquisition Corp. III.
American Gene Technologies (AGT) in Rockville ramped up efforts to develop a possible cure for HIV earlier this summer when it launched a spinoff company that will focus exclusively on HIV, human immunodeficiency virus.
AGT CEO Jeff Galvin explained at the time, “Now we’re launching a new company, Addimmune, to accelerate our research and continue to pursue our mission to cure HIV.”
The goal is to one day enable people with HIV to no longer have to take numerous medications daily and constantly worry about transmitting the disease or getting AIDS. The treatment of gene and therapy is a one-time event.
According to its news release Thursday, Addimmune’s investigational cell therapy, AGT103-T, makes gene modifications to the patients’ immune cells (T cells) that harden those cells against HIV infection and depletion, thus allowing those cells to target and kill HIV instead of being “killed” by the virus.
About 1.2 million people in the United States live with HIV. There is treatment, but it is “expensive, lifelong, and can often have side effects.” according to the release.
Jeff Galvin, CEO of AGT, will become the CEO of Addimmune.
“We’re at the forefront of gene therapy for HIV, working to transform the fear of a lifelong disease into hope for a single-administration, one-and-done cure. We believe that people living with HIV may no longer require lifelong treatment and we imagine a day when this disease no longer causes suffering or claims lives anywhere in the world. We’re excited about our collaboration with 10X. They bring a deep understanding of both the capital markets and the innovation that drives Addimmune,” he said.
The combined company is expected to trade under the ticker symbol “HIV.”
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