--- title: "Provirex developing a treatment for people infected with HIV in Hamburg; first human trial to confirm cure" sdDatePublished: "2026-08-21T11:44:00Z" source: "https://startupcity.hamburg/news-events/stories/provirex-is-developing-a-treatment-for-people-infected-with-hiv" topics: - name: "health" identifier: "medtop:07000000" - name: "health treatment and procedure" identifier: "medtop:20000464" - name: "medical research" identifier: "medtop:20000737" - name: "biotechnology" identifier: "medtop:20000711" - name: "business enterprise" identifier: "medtop:20000349" - name: "start-up and entrepreneurial business" identifier: "medtop:20001158" - name: "financial and business service" identifier: "medtop:20000271" locations: - "Munich" - "Hamburg" - "Düsseldorf" - "Köln" - "Essen" - "Frankfurt am Main" - "Dresden" --- Provirex developing a treatment for people infected with HIV in Hamburg; first human trial to confirm cure Provirex is developing a treatment for people infected with HIV | Startup City Hamburg Provirex is developing a treatment for people infected with HIV HIV is considered a particularly insidious type of virus. Once infected, a person will carry the virus for the rest of their life, even though medications are now available to prevent the disease from progressing to a severe stage. Provirex could therefore spark a medical revolution, as the Hamburg-based startup has developed a method that promises a complete cure. An initial clinical trial is scheduled to confirm this in the near future. Provirex is the result of nearly 20 years of research Even though it may sometimes seem that way, startups rarely emerge overnight; most have a long history. Provirex ’s history can even be traced back to 2007. At that time, a team of scientists at the Leibniz Institute for Virology (LIV) in Hamburg, led by Prof. Dr. Joachim Hauber, and at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden, led by Prof. Dr. Frank Buchholz, made a significant breakthrough in AIDS research. They had succeeded in removing HIV DNA from an infected cell. To fully grasp the significance of this breakthrough, one must understand how HIV works. The virus attacks T-helper cells, which play a vital role in the human immune system. More specifically, it permanently integrates itself into the DNA of these cells, leading to progressive immune deficiency and, if left untreated, the onset of AIDS. When the disease first appeared in the 1980s, it was considered untreatable and therefore fatal. Fortunately, that is no longer the case: taking medication can suppress the virus’s replication in the body. However, they cannot yet be completely eliminated, and drug treatment has a number of drawbacks. It must be continued for life, can have serious side effects, and in rare cases may not be effective at all. The psychological aspect should also not be underestimated. Many people living with the virus experience their HIV-positive status as a stigma. The procedure which is based on the findings dating back nearly 20 years aims instead to completely eliminate HIV from the human body and thus achieve a true and lasting cure. The tool used for this is an enzyme known as a recombinase. The name reveals its function, which is to rearrange the DNA of the infected T-helper cells. The recombinase identifies conservative, meaning unchanging, sections of the HIV gene sequence and uses them to cut out the viral component. It then reassembles the cut DNA without errors, which distinguishes this procedure from the better-known CRISPR IFB has supported Provirex from the very beginning Although the first breakthrough came as early as 2007, it was only the first step in what would become many more years of research. The results of that garnered worldwide attention in 2016 with a publication in the scientific journal *Nature Technology*, which described the efficacy of the recombinase now known as Brec1. At that time, however, a clinical trial was still a long way off, and a spin-off was not yet on the agenda. That took place in 2019 under the name Provirex. Shortly after Provirex was founded, the startup received financial support – initially from the InnovationsstarterFonds – and later also from the IFB programmes PROFI Transfer and PROFI Transfer Plus. In 2019, alongside the seed fund from IFB Innovationsstarter GmbH , the technology transfer company Ascencion also invested; in 2022, the biotech investment firm Bioventure joined as a further investor, and in 2026, together with the InnoVentureFonds, they provided additional capital totalling €6 million. The assignments grow along with the team This created financial stability, which gave the startup security and enabled its growth. In 2022, it moved into the Start-up Labs in Bahrenfeld and set up its first laboratories there. It has now found a new home at the tecHHub in Altona, where it occupies an entire floor offering ideal conditions for research and production. Provirex’s “founding fathers,” Professors Hauber and Buchholz, had long since handed over day-to-day operations to a quartet of co-founders: Oliver Ahnfeld (CFO), Dr. Jan Chemnitz (CSO), Dr. Maile Voges (QM), and Dr. Niklas Beschorner (CTO). In March 2025, Dr. Jan Claas-von Jachmann joined the management team as CEO. His dissertation on HIV and over 25 years of experience in leadership roles in the pharmaceutical industry make him ideally suited to the task of further advancing Provirex. Since he took office, the team has grown from eight to just under 20 people. This growth is driven by the ambitious goal of conducting both a long-planned clinical trial and the production of the drug entirely in-house. The first clinical trial is set to begin The efficacy of Brec1 has already been demonstrated in animal studies, namely not in animal cells, but in human cells that were implanted into mice. From an immunological and toxicological standpoint, everything went smoothly. The approval process for the human trial is well underway. Partners at university hospitals have also already been identified, specifically in Frankfurt, Munich, Düsseldorf, Cologne, and Essen. If everything goes as planned, eight people infected with HIV will undergo a complex procedure. Simply put, stem cells will be harvested from them, enriched with Brec1, and then re-injected into their bodies. The treatment also involves the use of busulfan, a drug familiar from chemotherapy, for conditioning. It is therefore associated with significant physical strain and extends over several weeks. This procedure is not yet suitable for widespread use in the fight against HIV; therefore, the long-term goal is to administer Brec1 directly, “in vivo,” as it is called in technical terms. HIV remains a global health problem It will be several years before that happens; a large-scale market launch is realistically expected in 2033. The costs of production and the complex treatment may seem high at first glance. However, it should still be cost-effective, since a one-time treatment is offset by the costs of a lifetime supply of the medications currently in use. The need is great in any case. Even though HIV and AIDS now play only a minor role in the public consciousness, the number of people infected continues to rise. There were over 40 million cases in 2025. The annual growth rate is estimated at 1.3 million, although exact figures are difficult to determine, particularly for the hardest-hit countries in Africa. Hamburg is good for Provirex The extent to which Provirex can halt this negative trend depends in no small part on the startup’s financial resources. These are secured through the end of 2027. The clinical trial is being actively pursued with the goal of using the first positive results to pave the way for the next round of investment. To date, together with the investor Bioventure, the City of Hamburg has contributed significantly to Provirex’s development through IFB funding and by creating excellent working conditions at the tecHHub. At the Hamburg Innovation Summit in June 2026, Dr. Jan Claas-von Jachmann spoke at length during the opening panel discussion with Senator for Economic Affairs Dr. Melanie Leonhard. Politicians have thus clearly recognized the potential that this multi-patented therapeutic method holds for the city as a business hub - and even more so for global health. Dr. Jan Claas-von Jachmann, CEO of Provirex