Studies Examine Ability Of Antiretroviral Maraviroc To Control HIV Viral Loads
Main Category: HIV / AIDSArticle Date: 06 Oct 2008 - 7:00 PDT
The studies were conducted among 1,049 people in Australia, Europe and North America, and all the participants were resistant to three of the six classes of HIV/AIDS drugs that are available. At the study's 48-week mark, at least 42% of the people who took maraviroc once or twice daily with a standard HIV/AIDS drug combination therapy reported viral loads below levels that cause visible damage to the immune system, compared with 18% of the participants who received a placebo along with a standard combination therapy.
Maraviroc belongs to a new class of HIV drugs called HIV entry inhibitors, or CCR5 receptor antagonists, which are being developed to address drug resistance to available therapies. All of the study participants tested positive for the strain of the virus that uses CCR5, according to Reuters. During the study, participants also were given antiretrovirals that target the virus' ability to replicate, Reuters reports. Researchers said that maraviroc did not produce any unusual side effects in the participants. Although the drug's label currently warns against possible liver problems, Roy Gulick of the Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York who led the study said that "our study simply didn't see liver toxicity, so that's reassuring." According to Gulick, results from the study's 96-week mark are being examined and might be presented at a meeting in November (Emery, Reuters, 10/1).
The first study is available online. The second study and a related editorial also are available online.
Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.
© 2008 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.
|
Please rate this article: (Hover over the stars then click to rate) |
Patient / Public: |
or |
Health Professional: |
Add to:
Contact Our News Editors
For any corrections of factual information, or to contact the editors please use our feedback form.
![]()
Please send any medical news or health news press releases to:
| Back to top | Back to front page | List of All Medical Articles |
| Privacy Policy | Terms and Conditions | © 2008 MediLexicon International Ltd |




