AIDS Activists Boycott Glaxo's Zantac

AIDS activists and San Francisco officials have announced a boycott ofGlaxo Wellcome's blockbuster antiulcer drug Zantac (ranitidine), which accounts for almost $3 billion of GW's $13 billion in annual sales. They claim that GW is protecting its $441 million in annual Retrovir (zidovudine) sales by delaying patients access to its promising new drug for HIV, the new-generation nucleoside analog abacavir, or 1592U89. A GW spokesman said that there is no truth to the allegations.

When used in therapy-naive patients, abacavir monotherapy has been shown to result in a drop in viral load of 99%. This compares to protease inhibitors and to a 40%-60% reduction in viral load with other nucleoside analogs as monotherapies. In addition, it has a low potential for meaningful resistance, is well-tolerated - with no food or drug interactions - and has good central nervous system penetration. It is moving into Phase III trials, and the company expects to file for regulatory approval next year. Hemant Shah of HKS & Co said that he could not see a benefit in withholding the drug, and that if GW could put the drug on the market, it would.

The GW spokesman commented that, while abacavir was first isolated nine years ago, it was not rigorously tested until late-1995 because other compounds looked more promising; it has now been tested in 300 patients. While GW will soon make the drug available to about 2,500 adults and children through the US Food and Drug Administration's compassionate-use program, AIDS activists feel that this number is too small. About 10,000 people who have built up resistance to Retrovir, or who cannot take the drug, should get abacavir under the expanded-access program, they claim.