New AIDS drugs help fight drug-resistant HIV strains

For more than 25 years since the AIDS epidemic, many drugs have been used to treat HIV, but as more and more patients become resistant to treatment during treatment, research is needed. A new way to combat this virus.

Next week, data on clinical trials of promising new drugs will be published at the leading HIV research conference held in Los Angeles. Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said: 'There are many new drugs that people are very interested in being researched and developed.'

These drugs include the new generation of anti-HIV drugs that have been used for a long time and new anti-virus agents based on new mechanisms.

More than 1 million Americans and nearly 40 million people worldwide are infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Each year about 40,000 Americans are infected with this virus. About half of the American patients treated for HIV infection stopped responding to at least one drug, said John Mellors, head of the Department of Infection at the University of Pittsburgh.

Drug resistance has become a problem because the virus can mutate, especially when patients do not follow the complicated treatment regimen with drugs.

On Tuesday, Merck & Co. published the test results of an integrase inhibitor named MK-0518. This may be the first drug in the new class. In the second quarter of this year, the company intends to apply for a US government license for circulation of this drug.

New drugs will bring hope to AIDS patients (Photo: Reuters).

Dr Mellor said: 'This seems to be a very interesting result. ' Clinicians are now beginning to see how the drug's response to many drug-treated patients is similar. the level of response on patients treated for the first time or not.

On Tuesday, Gilead Sciences Inc., a manufacturer of Truvada, a combination of emtricitabine and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, published data of an in-phase trial of an integrase inhibitor named GS. -9137.

Mr. Norbert Bischofberger, research manager of Gilead Company said: It is necessary to consider when comparing this data with Merck company's data because patients participating in Gilead's research are not allowed to use Other therapies until the company has information about the possibility of drug interactions.

In addition, there is another promising new drug that works by preventing HIV from entering T cells and staying there. T cells are a type of white blood cell that plays an important role in the immune system. These drugs work by blocking receptors on the surface of the T-cell. Once blocked from getting inside, HIV cannot infect and copy.

There is another drug called CCR5 inhibitor that prevents chemokine 5 coreceptors from entering T cells.

On Tuesday, Pfizer Inc. has published data of an end-stage trial of CCR5 inhibitor maraviroc, currently awaiting approval for circulation in the US and Europe. The patients who participated in the trial responded poorly to previous HIV treatments.

Mr. Howard Mayer, Pfizer's director of maraviroc development, said: ' If maraviroc is licensed for circulation, it will change the direction of treatment and be the first new group of oral HIV therapies. face within 10 years since protase inhibitors are licensed for circulation " .

Because CCR5 inhibitors do not immediately attack the virus itself as other HIV drug classes, HIV is less likely to become resistant.

On Wednesday, Johnson & Johnson - the company introduced Prezista, a protease inhibitor called darunavir , and the company's first anti-AIDS drug last year - announced the results of the trial. at the end of TMC278, non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor. It works by blocking an enzyme that HIV needs to use to copy.

The 14th conference on Retrovirus and opportunistic infections will be held at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Hong Linh