Tripep's ChronVac-C® treatment shows antiviral effect in patients with chronic hepatitis C also in the high dose

Tripep's ChronVac-C® treatment shows antiviral effect in patients with chronic
hepatitis C also in the high dose

Tripep now can report about the effect on virus levels in the blood from the
nine first patients who have completed full treatment against hepatitis C virus
infections in the ongoing open label clinical study with the therapeutic vaccine
ChronVac-C®. Tripep has earlier reported that the virus levels in the blood
during treatment were reduced by up to 87 % and 98 %, respectively, in two out
of three patients in the intermediate dose group. The results from the three
patients in the high dose group showed equally pronounced reductions of their
virus levels. In two out of three patients in the high dose group the
corresponding figures were 93 % and 99.7 %, respectively. No serious or
unexpected side effects were observed and therefore the study now can be
extended with another three patients. These patients will receive the dose
considered to be the best from a safety, immunogenic and efficacy point of view
in an interim analysis. The latter will be performed during the month of
November. 

”There is no doubt that treatment with ChronVac-C® has an antiviral effect in
patients with chronic hepatitis C. We now can see that the viral loads during
treatment can be reduced by more than 70 % (>0,5log10) from 2 to 10 weeks. The
reduction of the viral loads is different from what can be seen with traditional
treatment in that it does not always start immediately after the first dose has
been administered and that the effect may remain a long time after a given dose.
In the case of ChronVac-C® the treatment is based on the activation by the
vaccine of the patient's immune response and it is the latter that has the
antiviral effect. Therefore, it may well differ between patients after which
vaccine dosing the best antiviral effect can be seen. This type of treatment
represents a completely new way of treating hepatitis C and makes ChronVac-C® of
interest in a plethora of treatment indications. We will now chose the dose for
the last patient's group after all available data have been analyzed”, says Jan
Nilsson, Tripep's CEO.


The total market for medications against hepatitis C infections is estimated by
Rodman & Renshaw to be over 4 billion US dollars in 2008 and is expected to grow
to over 8 billion US dollars in 2013.

For more information, please contact:
Jan Nilsson, CEO, Tripep AB
Tel: +46 8 449 84 80, mobile phone: +46 70 466 31 63
E-mail: jan.nilsson@tripep.se

Anders Vahlne, Head of Research, Tripep AB
Tel: +46 8 5858 1313, mobile phone: +46 709 28 05 28
E-mail: anders.vahlne@ki.se




About Tripep
Tripep AB is a Swedish biotechnology research company that develops and
commercialises candidate drugs based on patented technologies. Tripep is
focusing on the following research projects; wound healing therapy ChronSeal®
and a therapeutic vaccine against Hepatitis C, named ChronVac-C®, plus the RAS®
technology platform. The Tripep share is admitted to trade on First North.
Remium AB is Certified Adviser for Tripep AB.  For more information, please
refer to the company's website: www.tripep.se.

About ChronVac-C®
ChronVac-C® is a therapeutic vaccine, i.e. it is given to individuals already
infected with the hepatitis C virus with the aim to clear the infection by
boosting the immune response against the virus. Tripep's ChronVac-C® vaccine is
administered with Inovio's Medpulser®DDS.

About the ChronVac-C® clinical trial
The study is conducted at the Infectious Disease Clinic at the Karolinska
University Hospital in Huddinge and entails totally 12 patients divided into
three dose groups with increasing doses of ChronVac-C®. Each patient receives
four ChronVac-C-vaccinations one month apart. After the last vaccination the
patients are followed for another six months. The primary aim of the study is to
determine the safety of the treatment and no severe adverse events have so far
been recorded. Secondary and tertiary aims are to determine immunogenicity and
effects on the viral replication, respectively.

In the event of any discrepancy between the Swedish and English versions of this
press release, the Swedish version will take precedence.