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New Data Finds Fuzeon-Based Therapy Provides Significant Long-Term Benefit; - AIDS Survivor Demonstrates Benefits of HIV Fusion Inhibitor -.

Article Excerpt
BANGKOK, Thailand, July 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Fuzeon(R) (enfuvirtide), the first and only fusion inhibitor for the treatment of HIV, durably suppresses HIV and provides continuous increases in immune (CD4) cells over a period of 96 weeks, according to new data presented today at the XV International AIDS Conference (IAC). In another key study finding, more than half of treatment- experienced patients (56 percent) who began using Fuzeon at the outset of the study were successful in completing 96 weeks of treatment. Additionally, investigators reported no late-emerging safety issues associated with the long-term use of Fuzeon.

"The new data show that the significant virological and immunological benefits of Fuzeon seen in earlier analyses are extended to 96 weeks, an especially notable achievement given the extensive prior drug exposure of patients enrolled in the TORO studies," said Corklin Steinhart M.D., Senior Attending Physician, Mercy Hospital, Miami, FL. "It is particularly exciting that more than half of patients who began treatment with Fuzeon continued on the drug for 96 weeks. This news, coupled with the positive 96-week safety analysis, should be encouraging to patients who are considering Fuzeon as a long-term treatment option."

The high prevalence of HIV drug resistance among patients in the U.S. highlights the need for newer HIV drugs, like Fuzeon, that are active against drug-resistant virus. Data recently presented at the XII International Drug Resistance Workshop, from a large cohort of HIV-infected individuals prescribed antiretroviral therapy from 2001-2003, showed that four out of five of those tested had resistance to at least one anti-HIV drug.(1) Thirty-nine percent were found to have resistance to a drug in two classes, and 18 percent had resistance to a drug in three classes. These data are consistent with previous findings from...