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WASHINGTON - A new Aids treatment made by Merck & Co, the first in a new class of drugs aimed at preventing replication of the virus, has been approved by US regulators, the company says.
The US Food and Drug Administration cleared Isentress, a pill given twice a day and known generically as raltegravir.
It is the first in a new class of HIV treatments called integrase inhibitors that seek to block insertion of HIV genetic material into human DNA to prevent the creation of copies of the virus.
"It seems very safe, compared to other agents," said Homayoon Khanlou, the Aids Healthcare Foundation's Chief of Medicine, who was involved in the clinical testing. "It is very potent in terms of HIV viral suppression."
The drug was tested in patients who have become highly resistant to several marketed medicines for HIV, the virus that causes Aids. Resistance is a major problem as the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes Aids can mutate, especially in patients who fail to rigorously follow the often-complicated drug regimes.
The drug-resistant patient population has the highest unmet medical need, according to Merck, which is also studying the drug in previously untreated patients.
With advances in treatment, more people are living longer with HIV or Aids. In the United States alone in 2006, more than 1 million people were living with HIV or Aids.
- Reuters
