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March 17, 2010

Vacc-C5 to be prepared for phase I/II clinical trial

"Research results to date indicate that Vacc-C5 may induce a protective
antibody response in HIV patients similar to that found in patients with a very
slow or non-progressing disease. This naturally very slow or non-progressing HIV
infection observed in a small minority of patients has been the subject of
academic interest for years and our discovery of these antibodies in such
patients could lead to a significant shift in the approach to treating HIV. The
results have been presented to the company's Clinical Advisory Board with very
encouraging feedback, says Birger Sørensen, CEO of Bionor Immuno.

"Vacc-C5

"The main trigger behind the disease progression from HIV to AIDS is the
hyper-activation of the immune system. This hyper-activation overwhelms and
gradually causes a collapse in the immune system, leading to the AIDS stage of
the disease.

"From research on blood donated by patients with a very slow or non-progressing
HIV disease, the company has succeeded in identifying a specific part of the
virus, C5, which is believed to induce hyper-activation of the immune system.
Antibodies to this specific part are likely to be protective and cause a slow
disease progression. Using its unique technology, the company has developed the
vaccine candidate Vacc-C5, that is designed to induce a similar antibody
response to the one discovered in patients with naturally very slow disease
progression. Vacc-C5 has passed pre-clinical research tests showing that it has
the potential to induce the desired antibodies."

Read more in Bionor Immuno, March 17, 2010.

Comment: Bionor Immuno was acquired by Nutri Pharma in February 2010. Bionor's technology creates peptides (parts of proteins) designed for use in vaccines to cause production of desired antibodies.

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