...to understand, prevent, and treat HIV/AIDS and its complications. Continuing our tradition at The Center for AIDS, this issue of HIV Treatment ALERTS! provides our readers with a snapshot of some very exciting studies.

New treatments are being developed to control HIV disease, especially for those who are highly treatment-experienced. Researchers are discovering that some existing drugs used to treat certain diseases and conditions in HIV-negative people are proving useful for those living with HIV. They are also finding solutions for some of the side effects of HIV infection and the drugs used to treat it. Although some of the potential new treatments seem to be less effective than originally thought, research continues. Twenty-five years alter the epidemic began, scientists are learning more and more about improving the lives of people living with HIV and AIDS.

WHAT'S NEW DOC?

There are about 40,000 HIV + people in the US who have developed resistance to available HIV meds. These individuals are running out of treatment options and must rely on a complex and ever-changing combination of approved drugs to keep their HIV under control. Fortunately, the conference brings some very good news. Several drugs in development belong to entirely new classes of HIV drugs: integrase inhibitors and chemokine antagonists. These drugs attack HIV in completely different ways than the traditional ones that have been around for the last 20 years. If these new drugs prove to be effective, they would be the first new classes of HIV reeds to be approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) since 2003 and would also be the first new classes of oral HIV meds in 10 years. The last HIV med from a new class to be approved was Fuzeon (or T-20), that works by blocking HIV from entering human cells, and needs to be injected twice a day. Given the problems related to treating people who are drug resistant, these new study findings present a new opportunity for hope.

Integrase Inhibitors

David Cooper, from the University of New South Wales in Australia, presented early results from a study of the integrase inhibitor raltegravir (Abstracts #105aLB and # 105bLB), formerly known as MK-0518, combined with 3 or more existing HIV drugs (optimized background therapy). This drug works by blocking an HIV enzyme called integrase, which is one of the enzymes H IV needs to reproduce in the body. Integrase inhibitors would stop HIV from inserting its genetic material into uninfected cells. All 699 patients who began the study had viral loads between 30,000 to 50,000 copies and T-cell counts between 146 to 163. Alter 16 to 24 weeks of treatment, 77% of the patients taking raltegravir had a viral load below 400 copies (considered undetectable) compared to only 42% of those taking the placebo; 61% of the patients on...

NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.



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