AIDS Conference in Los Angeles Ends With A Bang

The Los Angeles Times has a report from the 14th Annual Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections currently being held in Los Angeles February 25-28th which reveals results which support the efficacy of two new effective classes of HIV drugs, CCR5 inhibitors and integrase inhibitors. The CROI conference is generally regarded as the most scientifically significant HIV/AIDS conference of the year. In recent years there has not been very much encouraging news emerging from the annual CROI conference but this year was an exception. Eric Daar, chief of HIV medicine at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, CA called the news "a pivotal moment" for patients infected with resistant strains of HIV. There were as many as four promsing anti-HIV drugs discussed at this year's conference.

The new drugs are Pfizer's maraviroc, Merck's raltegravir and Gilead's elvitegravir (who thinks up these names?). The first drug maraviroc is called a CCR5 inhibitor; it disrupts HIV from using a particular receptor on human cells (called the CCR5 receptor) to infect them. The Times says it is "the first class of HIV drugs to target the human immune system rather than the virus itself." Pfizer has already applied for FDA approval, which is expected by the end of the year.

The drugs raltegravir and elvitegravir are called integrase inhibitors, which target HIV by inhibiting from using integrase, one of the three enzymes the virus uses to replicate itself in CD4 immune cells.

The other drug is called TMC278 and is developed by a little-known company called Tibotec. It is in the class of anti-retroviral drugs called reverse transcriptase inhibitors, which were some of the first drugs approved to combat HIV. However, TMC278 appears to be as effective against the virus with far less side effects.

The very useful Kaiser Family Foundation Network Daily HIV/AIDS Report has even more details.