Experimental AIDS Drugs Work Faster, Better, Companies Say In Geneva
Dow Jones Online News, Tuesday, June 30, 1998 at 16:31
WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Drug companies said Tuesday their
experimental AIDS drugs worked better than previous medicines or even
helped reboot the immune system, according to presentations at the 12th
World AIDS Conference in Geneva Tuesday.
Hoffman-LaRoche Inc., for instance, claimed its protease inhibitor,
Fortovase, performs better when compared to Merck & Co.'s protease
inhibitor Crixivan. Hoffman-LaRoche is a unit of Roche Holding AG
(ROHHY).
Both drugs reduced HIV levels in patients when taken in a so-called
drug cocktail with AZT and 3TC.
Fortovase helped increase patients' CD4 cell levels more, Roche said.
CD4 cells, sometimes called T-helper cells, aren't infected and help
fight off the virus.
Also at the conference, Hoffman-LaRoche presented data on a Fortovase
study of patients taking the drug plus two members of a class of drugs
known as nucleoside analogues, such as AZT. Of those patients, 78%
showed the virus levels drop below detection levels.
"We are excited that Fortovase has continued to be effective in
patients out to the one-year mark," said Dr. Frank Duff, associate
director of clinical science at Hoffman-LaRoche. "Fortovase has clearly
shown that it will play a significant role in the treatment of HIV."
The Food and Drug Administration approved Fortovase last November.
The drug is a more powerful version of Roche's Invirase, which was the
first protease inhibitor on the market when it came out in December
1995.
Meanwhile, DuPont Merck Pharmaceutical Co. announced more good news
about its experimental drug, Sustiva. The company said combining Sustiva
with a common therapy suppressed HIV levels below detectable amounts
quicker and in more patients.
The 24-week study of 184 patients compared a group of patients taking
a protease inhibitor and two nucleoside analogues with a group of
patients given the same drug combination plus Sustiva.
In the Sustiva group, HIV levels fell below detectable amounts in 74%
of patients, compared with 45% of patients who weren't taking Sustiva.
Also, more Sustiva patients had HIV levels under distinguishable
levels after eight weeks of treatment.
On Tuesday, DuPont Merck also said its ongoing study of combining
Sustiva with Agouron Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s (AGPH) Viracept has
benefited patients so far.
After 16 weeks, the 63 patients in the study showed the combination
significantly reduced HIV levels, while increasing CD4 cell counts.
DuPont Merck filed its Sustiva new drug application with the FDA
earlier this month.
The FDA designated the once-a-day drug a fast-track product, meaning
that because it is designed to treat a life-threatening disease, the
agency plans to decide on the drug's application within six months.
DuPont & Co. (DD) announced in May that it will buy Merck & Co.'s
(MRK) 50% interest in their DuPont Merck venture. The new company will
be called DuPont Pharmaceuticals Co. after the deal closes July 1.
The company plans to present additional Sustiva studies at the AIDS
conference Thursday. Other Sustiva news was released Monday.
Also Tuesday, Glaxo Wellcome PLC (GLX) said Tuesday that its
experimental protease inhibitor amprenavir may be effective in helping
the recovery of immune systems in HIV patients. The data suggests that
amprenavir, when used in combination with its experimental Ziagen drug,
suppresses viral load and may support "immune reconstitution." Ziagen
belongs to a class of drugs known as reverse transcriptase inhibitors
Other data also suggests that amprenavir may have a unique resistance
profile.
The question of whether the immune system can be restored following
its deterioration is key to HIV patients, as the virus progressively
damages the body's immune system.
A Swiss study involving the use of an amprenavir/Ziagen combination
found that after 48 weeks of treatment, viral load was undetectable in
eight of the nine patients tested.
Pierre-Alexandre Bart, who conducted the study, said the data raises
the possibility that long-term viral suppression allows the immune
system to begin repairing the damage caused by HIV infection.
In other news Tuesday, Agouron said it licensed a potential protease
inhibitor, code named JE-2147, from Japan Energy Corp. for $26 million.
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