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Researchers in the United States may have found a way to augment antiretroviral therapy's effectiveness against drug- resistant HIV strains. The cytidine nucleoside analog DPC 817 remains effective against viruses with resistance mutations countering reverse transcriptase inhibitors, a crucial element of HAART, according to researchers.

Many HAART regimens utilize the nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) zidovudine and/or lamivudine, the researchers said. Viruses with mutations conferring protection from these agents remained vulnerable to DPC 817, which demonstrated powerful activity against wild-type viruses as well as resistant mutants.

DPC 817 had attractive qualities beyond its ability to target drug-resistant viral strains. The agent was quickly converted to its active metabolite, which remains in plasma for extended periods of time, study data showed. In fact, experiments with non-human primates suggested that the plasma half-life of DPC 817 was longer than that of several commonly used reverse transcriptase inhibitors.

Editor's Note: from AIDS Weekly