Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Biotech / Medical : Agouron Pharmaceuticals (AGPH) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JR who wrote (3968)	3/27/1998 3:37:00 PM
From: margie	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 6136

Yesterday's Wall Street Journal, mentioned Agouron, in their discussion of: AIDS-Drug Cocktails in Use Since 1996 Cause Steep Drop in Deaths." "Still, data from drug companies suggest that the combination therapy is gaining increasing use in the U.S. About 200,000 people in the U.S. are taking protease drugs, about double the number a year ago. Agouron Pharmaceuticals Inc. of La Jolla, Calif., which sells a protease drug called Viracept, reports that sales of its drug will jump to about $350 million in the U.S. for the fiscal year ending June 30 from $57 million in the previous fiscal year, when the drug was first introduced. Merck & Co. says its Crixivan drug generated $582 million in world-wide sales in 1997, $299 million of which came in the U.S." JR, Who knows. Maybe it's the market's skittishness and Friday etc. Joe E. Re: >Here is news on a three drug cocktail with protease inhibitors> That combination did not include a protease inhibitor, just two nukes and a non-nuke: AZT, ddl and Nevirapine (Viramune). Nevirapine is a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (nnrti). The results were not as good as would be obtained using a protease inhibitor. There are two nnrti's now, nevirapine and delavirdine. Either one causes absolute cross-resistance to the other, and it develops quickly if there is not complete viral suppression, so the HHS Guidelines recommend that the nnrti component of a 3 drug therapy be replaced with a protease inhibitor, in the event of therapy failure using an nnrti. The baseline viral loads were relatively low, and CD4 counts were high to start in this study. According to HHS Guidelines, the preferred regimen to drive viral replication below the limits of detection includes a potent protease inhibitor plus two nrti's: one that targets activated cells (d4T or AZT) and one that targets resting cells (ddI, 3TC, or ddC.) healthcg.com