Fusion inhibitors are promising antiretrovirals
A class of antiretroviral drugs which prevents the
human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) from fusing with host cells has shown
promising results in suppressing viral load.
Preliminary findings of a Phase I/II study of T-20,
a fusion inhibitor, used to treat 14 children aged three to 12 years who
were infected with HIV, showed that a dose of 60mg/m2 body
surface area, reduced HIV RNA levels by a factor of 10 in seven days.
In combination with other antiretrovirals, T-20, administered subcutaneously
twice daily, resulted in continued virological suppression over 24-weeks
of treatment.
Dr Coleen Cunningham, SUNY Upstate Medical University,
Syracuse, New York, and colleagues conclude that "short-term subcutaneous
T-20 administration is safe and well tolerated in children". Study treatment
is ongoing for nine children.
In another study, monotherapy with a second fusion
inhibitor, T1249, resulted in a dose-related suppression of plasma HIV
RNA in adult patients who had already developed resistance to nucleoside
reverse transcriptase inhibitors, protease inhibitors and non-nucleoside
reverse transcriptase inhibitors.
Data from both studies were presented at the 41st
Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy held
in Chicago last month.
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