The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is the causative agent of the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). More than 1.5 million people are infected with this virus in North America and Western Europe. As yet there are still no adequate anti-HlV treatments to arrest the further development of this epidemic. RiboGene has designed two anti-HlV assays that target the production of specific viral proteins. Phase l funding will be used as a feasibility study to determine which of these two assays is most suitable for development as a high throughput screen to identify potential anti-HlV drugs. In addition a mammalian cell based secondary screen will be generated to confirm that any compounds identified by the high throughput screen function in vivo.
