Displeased.
inhibitors integrase keep HIV from entering our genes
LYNN BRANDS / GLAXOSMITHKLINE
DENVER, COLORADO -. Patients whose HIV infections have developed resistance to most available drugs may soon have a new and powerful new antiretroviral drug to add to their treatment.
The drug, manufactured by Merck and known as MK-0518, inhibits the enzyme critical integrase that the virus uses to drag its genetic material into human chromosomes, and then copy itself. Antiretroviral drugs currently on different target parts of the HIV life cycle market.
At the 13th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections here February 8 Beatriz Grinsztejn of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, revealed results of a multisite, placebo-controlled study in 167 people infected with multidrug-resistant HIV. The results showed how MK-0518 could reduce the level of virus below 400 copies per milliliter - a drop of 99% - 80% of treated participants. "This is a difficult population, and for 80% [of patients] below 400 copies is about as good as it gets," said Michael Saag, director of the AIDS Research Center at the University of Alabama, Birmingham.
a smaller shorter study, reported at a meeting last fall, found that the drug was as safe and effective in people with HIV who n has never taken antiretroviral medication. Constance Benson, an organizer of the retrovirus meeting and an AIDS researcher at the University of California, San Diego, said that if the drug works in larger trials and toxicities not serious area, "it will change the treatment paradigm."
the current study only looked at the impact of the drug after 16 weeks and did not assess whether it has improved the health of participants who had been on anti-HIV drugs for an average of 9 years. Merck launches two studies in several countries to evaluate the safety and efficacy of MK-0518 in large groups of same-drug resistant
"We move the drug through the [pipeline] as quickly as possible. "said Robin Isaacs Merck, head of clinical research for infectious diseases. If all goes well, the company plans to seek approval from the US Food and Drug Administration next year. Merck also began organize larger trials with patients who were not drug-resistant HIV.
related site
- The retrovirus conference
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