Press Release

Antiva Biosciences Named Winner of Global Women’s HealthTech Award by World Bank Group and Consumer Technology Association

Honor Recognizes Companies Advancing Innovative Solutions to Improve Women’s Health and Safety in Emerging Markets

South San Francisco, CA – January 6, 2022 – Antiva Biosciences, a biopharmaceutical company developing novel, topical therapeutics for the treatment of pre-cancerous lesions caused by human papilloma virus (HPV) infection, today announced that the World Bank Group and the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) have named it one of the winners of The Global Women’s HealthTech Awards. These awards recognize innovative companies that leverage technology to improve women’s health and safety in emerging markets. Antiva was one of the winners selected by a panel of industry experts from entries submitted by over 70 companies from 35 countries.

Antiva’s lead development candidate, ABI-2280, is being developed as a potential treatment for high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasias (HSIL, CIN 2,3). ABI-2280 is a prodrug of an acyclic nucleoside phosphonate with known potent antiviral activity which works by directly blocking HPV replication and inducing apoptosis in HPV-infected lesions, while sparing normal cells. Antiva has leveraged its development expertise to create a topical formulation of the compound that is rapidly taken up into epithelial cells, avoiding the potential systemic toxicity often seen when potent antiviral drugs are delivered systemically. The company recently dosed the first subject in its Phase 1 clinical trial of ABI-2280 and expects data from the study to be available in mid-2022.

“We are honored to be recognized by the World Bank Group and CTA and offer our congratulations to all of the other winners who are working to improve women’s health around the world. At Antiva, we have made women’s and global health a central tenet of our mission and our work with ABI-2280 is a perfect example of our efforts in this area,” said Gail Maderis, president and chief executive officer of Antiva. “To this end, we are excited to have recently advanced ABI-2280 into clinical development. We believe that this topical therapy, together with innovative screening and diagnostic tools, can offer a ‘see and treat’ solution to prevent cervical cancer, a disease which kills more than 300,000 women annually.”

About HPV-Related Diseases and Cervical Cancer

Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) is so common that nearly all sexually active men and women are infected with the virus at some point in their lives. While many of these are transient infections which the body is capable of fighting off, the infections that persist are known to drive the formation of malignancies, including cervical, anal, vulvar, penile, and head and neck cancers.

The introduction of prophylactic vaccines for HPV was a major step forward in the fight against HPV-associated cancers by preventing infection by certain high-risk HPV subtypes. However, due to low adoption rates in the US, EU, and Japan, and limited access to the vaccines in developing countries, HPV infections and the disease states driven by such infections remain a major unmet clinical need.

Globally, cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women and as such represents a major public health problem. According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 570,000 women were diagnosed with cervical cancer worldwide and approximately 311,000 women died from the disease in 2018.

About Antiva Biosciences

Antiva Biosciences, Inc. is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel, topical therapeutics for the treatment of diseases caused by HPV infection. The company, based in South San Francisco, was founded in 2012 by Dr. Karl Hostetler of The University of California San Diego. The company’s lead drug candidate, ABI-2280 is initially being developed as a topical treatment for high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasias (HSIL, CIN 2,3). Antiva believes that development of ABI-2280 may also be expanded to include other pre-cancers attributed to HPV, such as vulvar (VIN 2,3) and anal (AIN 2,3) neoplasias.

Contact

Gail Maderis
Antiva Biosciences, Inc.
650-822-1401

Tim Brons
Vida Strategic Partners (media)
646-319-8981
tbrons@vidasp.com