Pfizer: Maraviroc lowers viral load in treatment-experienced patients

Pfizer has announced that maraviroc, its novel HIV treatment, significantly reduced the viral load in patients as a combination therapy with an optimised regimen. Results of the 24-week analysis of the compound were presented at the Annual Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections.

The company reports that around twice as many patients administered with the compound exhibited an undetectable level of HIV in the blood compared to those who were not.

Pfizer notes that maraviroc has received an accelerated review from regulators in the EU as a treatment for CCR5 tropic HIV, which enters immune cells in the body through the CCR5 receptor.

Dr Howard Mayer, global clinical lead for the maraviroc development programme at Pfizer, said: “Data from the two identical studies are remarkably consistent and demonstrate significant decreases in viral load and increases in CD4 cells when maraviroc is added to the standard optimised treatment regimen.”

The company adds that in blocking viral entry to human cells rather than fighting HIV cells, the compound has a novel mechanism, describing it as potentially the first new type of orally-administered HIV treatment for over ten years.

Last month, Pfizer expressed the belief that CCR5 antagonists would become “critically important” in the treatment of HIV and Aids patients that are resistant or intolerant to existing medications.