San Francisco—Spurred by such problems as the emergence of drug-resistant strains of HIV and adverse effects of current drug regimens, AIDS researchers are actively seeking new agents that use a novel strategy to foil the virus: blocking HIV's entry into target cells.
A number of groups are focusing their efforts on a promising group of compounds called "entry inhibitors," according to new findings presented here at the Seventh Annual Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections.
Because such agents target a different step in HIV's life cycle than current drugs, researchers hope they will have a useful role in "salvage regimens" for patients who are unable to benefit from established treatments because of drug resistance or toxicity.
The entry inhibitor farthest along in the drug development pipeline, T-20, has one significant disadvantage: it must be given by injection. But results of early studies of the agent's potency . . . [Full Text of this Article]
