Hydroxyurea Enhances Didanosine Effects

- The combination of hydroxyurea with Bristol-Myers Squibb's Videx (didanosine) can lead to long, sustained virus suppression with no rebound up to a year after starting drug treatment, according to a 60-patient Phase I/IIb study presented at the AIDS conference. Three hypotheses explaining this finding were suggested; - that hydroxyurea has direct antiviral activity which targets a cellular protein which is less prone to mutation and resistance - hydroxyurea has cytostatic properties which suppress virus (and also explain a lack of an increase in CVD4 counts), and - the drug reverts resistant virus back to didanosine susceptibility.