Making eCD4-Ig, a long‑acting HIV medicine
Official title: Process development for manufacturing eCD4-Ig
Funded at Emmune, INC · NIH-11328776 · Data updated 2026-11-12
Developing ways to manufacture eCD4-Ig, a long‑lasting antibody‑like medicine that could help people living with or at risk for HIV.
Quick facts
| Grant type | Sbir 2 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Emmune, INC NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Juno Beach, UNITED STATES) |
| Project start | January 1, 2023 |
| Project end | August 31, 2028 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $999,997 |
| NIH project number | 4R44AI170285-02 |
| Project ID | NIH-11328776 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
People living with HIV or people at high risk of HIV infection would be the likely candidates for future clinical trials of eCD4‑Ig.
✕Less likely to help
Patients seeking an approved HIV treatment today or people with conditions unrelated to HIV will not receive direct benefit from this manufacturing project.
What this research studies
This project focuses on the lab and manufacturing steps needed to move eCD4‑Ig toward human testing. Teams will set up and validate lab tests to ensure the drug has the right chemical features, create and test production cell lines, and optimize how the protein is grown and purified. They will refine both the upstream (cell growth and feeding) and downstream (filtering and chromatography) steps and pick stable formulation buffers. Finally, they will produce a quality‑controlled GLP batch of eCD4‑Ig needed for regulatory filings to start clinical trials.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could enable a single long‑acting therapy that neutralizes a wide range of HIV strains and reduce the need for frequent dosing.
How similar studies have gone: Preclinical lab and animal studies show eCD4‑Ig can neutralize all tested HIV strains, and related long‑acting antibody approaches have shown promise though human data are limited.
Where this research is happening
-
Emmune, INC
Juno Beach, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Alpert, Michael David — Emmune, INC
- Study coordinator: Alpert, Michael David
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.