Highlights from International AIDS conference include updates on S/GSK 1349572, Merck & Co's Isentress, Abbott's Kaletra and a microbial gel

Developments in HIV/AIDS treatment were the focus of the International AIDS Conference in Vienna, Austria, over the last couple of days, where the World Health Organization set the scene with a comprehensive review of patients receiving treatment, mortality issues and costs (The Pharma Letter July 19).

Findings from a GlaxoSmithKline-funded study presented at the conference suggested that the UK drug giant's S/GSK1349572 reduced HIV levels in the blood of 78% of 27 patients who were resistant to Isentress and two other classes of drugs after 11 days of treatment. S/GSK1349572 has one-eighth the amount of active ingredient of Merck & Co's Isentress (raltegravir) and is administered once daily instead of twice, potentially allowing space for combination treatment with other drugs. The most common adverse events associated with the drug were insomnia and diarrhea. The study also highlighted that the drug had no effects on five patients who carried certain genetic mutations, suggesting that the GSK drug would not work in certain groups of infected people.

Merck & Co reported efficacy data from the first 48-weeks of the 96-week PROGRESS study (n=200) that compared US health care major Abbott Laboratories' Kaletra (lopinavir/ritonavir) and its own drug Isentress (raltegravir) with a standard HIV regimen of Kaletra and the nucleotide/nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors in Gilead's Truvada (tenofovir and emtricitabine) in antiretroviral-naive adult patients. Findings through 48 weeks showed that a similar proportion of patients had HIV-1 RNA levels < 40 copies/ml when treated with kaletra and isentress, compared to kaletra and truvada. both groups had similar positive immune response and also exhibited similar treatment-related adverse events, however lipid elevations were observed more frequently in the kaletra and isentress group. >