Pfizer to receive accelerated review for maraviroc marketing authorisation

Pfizer is to receive accelerated marketing authorisation in the US and Europe for its HIV/Aids therapy maraviroc.

The drug would be the first of the CCR5 antagonists to gain regulatory approval. The new CCR5 treatments work by blocking viral entry, as opposed to fighting HIV inside white blood cells. According to Pfizer, such treatment is “a significant improvement over current therapies”.

Priority reviews with the US Food and Drug Administration take six months, with an advisory panel scheduled to meet in April.

CCR5 antagonists work by stopping the virus, produced by infected cells, from entering uninfected cells. The predominant entry route – the CCR5 co-receptor – is effectively blocked.

“There is a profound global need for new medicines to help HIV/Aids patients,” said John LaMattina, president of Pfizer Global Research and Development.

“We expect that CCR5 antagonists, like maraviroc, will become critically important new treatment options for patients who are resistant or intolerant to their current HIV/Aids therapies.”

Pfizer claims to be the world’s largest research-based pharmaceutical company and was founded in 1849.