Genocea Biosciences, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, announced this week that a new genital herpes drug treatment they have invented has been showing great promise in recent tests. The new drug is called GEN-003 and the company announced its recent test findings on Monday at a meeting held in Boston at the American Society for Microbiology.
While it is in the experimental stages, the drug is said to be able to boost the immune system as well as severely limit the activity of the virus in the body. According to the test research, a patient is treated with three injections and the drug seems to be effective for up to one year.
Research was carried out on 310 people who suffer from genital herpes that is recurrent as well as chronic. It is estimated that one out of every six humans has herpes. The drug is said to also stimulate the immune system to the point where antibodies against the virus are being generated.
Lead author of the study, Dr. Kenneth Fife, said that, “GEN-003 is believed to work through a different pathway from most vaccines by recruiting T-cells which are critical to controlling chronic infections such as herpes. GEN-003 is expected to be tested in combination with antiviral medications to potentially provide a level of relief not currently available.”
Genital herpes, again, affects one out of every six people and there is no cure for it as of yet.
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