Re your quote and upload re "Dual protease inhibitor therapy":
In terms of the sales and profitability of Agouron, not next week, but next year, IMO nothing (unless aa AIDS cure is developed somehow) is as important as whether dual protease inhibitor treatment becomes prevalent.
The article you quote mentions Norvir and saquinavir, but also Agouron's Viracept and saquinavir have also been tested together with positive results. Agouron has pushed the dual PI concept for some time, but has not published a study with enough participants to change prescription patterns, IMHO. Because of the added expense they need to have good proof of the benefits of this treatment before it will become standard.
The multiplicity of drugs and drug combinations that seem to work now
suggests that there is more hope for patients who see a treatment stop working. IMO patients who are taking triple combination therapy now per NIH guidelines and who then experience rebounds in their viral load can hope to switch to an all new combination with a somewhat different components and drug mechanism and hope to regain control. (Especially if they start out using Viraceopt).
The recent approval of Glaxo's combination drug may help patients stay on their regimen.
With the present state of affairs all of the drug manufacturers are helped by anything that keeps the patients alive and well. Only a drug or treatment that is a CURE or vaccine will change that. Speaking of a cure, note the following report of a ONE PATIENT "CURE" from the CDC daily summary:"
"New Cocktail Sends HIV Patient Into 'Remission'"
Reuters (09/26/97)
An HIV-positive patient seems to be free of infection nine
months after beginning treatment with a new drug cocktail
including hydroxyurea, according to a report in the Sept. 26
issue of the journal Science. The patient--who was given a
combination of hydroxyurea, didanosine, and indinavir--appears to
be free of infection nine months after he stopped taking the
drugs. Franco Lori and Julianna Lisziewics, founders of the
Washington-based Research Institute for Genetic and Human
Therapy, noted that "more patients need to undergo this
particular therapy and be observed over a longer period of time
before any conclusions can be drawn about this approach as a new
course of treatment." The researchers also warned individuals
not to try the combination themselves."
SO ... Agouron, test those dual treatments! |
