Triangle Reports Data On NNRTI For HIV

Triangle Pharmaceuticals has reported preliminary results of a PhaseIb/IIa trial of its anti-HIV drug MKC-422, a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor, licensed from Mitsubishi Kasei of Japan, which acts at a different site on the molecule than other RTIs such as zidovudine and lamivudine from Glaxo Wellcome.

A total of 26 patients received doses of 100mg/kg to 350mg/kg orally, twice a day for up to two months. Patients on the highest dose exhibited a 90% reduction in viral load in the first week, but this rose above the nadir on subsequent assessment, probably because of resistance development. Side effects were generally mild and transient, with one drop-out in the lowest dose group because of rash. The trial is continuing and others will be put in place before year-end, looking at higher doses, drug metabolism, resistance patterns and activity in combination with other drugs.

Analysts from Dillon, Read & Co said that the data were encouraging, and pointed to Triangle's five additional compounds which should enter trials this year in support of their "buy" rating for the stock. These include FTC and CS-92 for HIV, alanosine for cancer, ACVMP for resistant herpes, and 2-CdAP for psoriasis.