Scientists To Present Proof On New Aids Drugs
Scientists today will present the first compelling proof that a new family of potent AIDS drugs can decrease or even prevent AIDS-related complications, and prolong life.
Researchers studying ritonavir, a new drug developed by Abbott Laboratories, will tell a major AIDS conference here that patients already very sick with AIDS who took the drug suffered far fewer symptoms of AIDS and lived significantly longer than those taking a placebo.
“It’s very dramatic,” said Andre Pernet, the company’s vice president of pharmaceutical research and development in describing the drug’s impact on a group of patients with end-stage AIDS who had not responded to other treatments. “Patients tell us they feel better. They gain weight. They go back to work.”
In the Abbott trial, the rate of episodes of AIDS-related illnesses fell by two-thirds among those taking ritonavir, and the death rate was reduced by one-half, compared to a group receiving a placebo, company scientists said.
“The big message here is hope,” Pernet said. “We haven’t had that before.”
AIDS specialists have been very excited about the potential of this new class of drugs, known as pro-tease inhibitors, and have been eagerly awaiting the first convincing evidence that they provide a clear clinical benefit to patients.
The findings will be presented here at the Third Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections.
Earlier in the week, researchers studying another protease inhibitor reported that the compound, when used in combination with two standard AIDS drugs, suppressed reproduction of the virus to levels that were virtually undetectable in the bloodstream.
Until now, the most widely used AIDS drugs have been from a family known as nucleoside analogs, which are less powerful. Both classes of drugs attack the virus at different stages in its reproductive cycle. The nucleoside analogs hit the replication process early, while protease inhibitors target a later phase.
To be sure, experts do not yet know how well protease inhibitors will work over the long term, particularly in infected individuals who have not yet developed symptoms. One of the problems with all AIDS drugs is the eventual development of viral strains that are drug resistant.
The results were seen more rapidly in patients in this trial because they already were extremely ill.
Nevertheless “this is the first clinical data we’ve seen on these drugs - and it’s terrific,” said Dr. Robert T. Schooley, chairman of the scientific program committee for the conference. “We now have solid data that this class of drugs is beneficial to patients in terms of length and quality of life.”