Merck Sharp and Dohme’s new HIV drug ‘comparable to Sustiva’

Merck Sharp and Dohme’s (MSD) investigational HIV therapy, MK-0518, offers comparable effectiveness to Sustiva, the Bristol-Myers Squibb drug, it has been announced.

A recent study demonstrated that MK-0518 offers comparable HIV viral load reduction to Sustiva, when both drugs are used in combination with lamivudine and tenofovir. The phase II trial revealed that viral load reduction of 50 copies per millilitre of HIV RNA was achieved in 85 to 95 per cent of MK-0518 patients, compared to 92 per cent of Sustiva.

Martin Markowitz, clinical director and staff investigator at the Aaron Diamond Aids Research Centre, New York City, stated: “This early study showed a rapid and significant reduction in viral load up to 24 weeks with MK-0518 in treatment-naive patients.”

“This study should lend further insight into the potential of HIV integrase inhibitors as a new and exciting class of antiretroviral agents,” he added.

Dr Markowitz concluded by saying that the HIV virus continues to be “very challenging to suppress”, adding that further studies will help to explain what the MK-0518 results will mean for HIV patients.

While suppressant treatments like MK-0518 are in development, preventative HIV vaccines are also currently being researched by companies like GlaxoSmithKline.

A recent review article in the Clinical Infectious Diseases journal has stated that there are various difficulties in producing HIV vaccines, not least the fact that most conventional vaccines are designed to stimulate the CD4 T-cells that are destroyed in patients with HIV, according to the National Aids Manual.

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