Scientists from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in collaboration with the pharmaceutical company Sanofi have engineered a three-pronged antibody that protected monkeys from two strains of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) better than the equivalent naturally occurring antibodies.

The single antibody with triple action afforded monkeys better protection against infection with two strains of monkey HIV than the individual natural antibodies from which the engineered antibody was derived.

The engineered tri-species antibody also prevented infection by more different HIV strains in cell cultures and with greater potency than natural, single-specificity antibodies.

Clinical trials to test the new broadly neutralizing tri-specific antibody in healthy people and in people living with HIV are due to start in 2018. If the clinical trials in HIV prove successful, the technology could be used against a wide range of other infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases and cancers.