Small Clinical Trial Examines Drug's Ability to Reduce HIV in Body

In the first human trial of GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK) experimental HIV drug S/GSK1349572, the drug was able to reduce HIV to undetectable levels in 70 percent of the 35 patients taking the treatment for 10 days, according to findings presented at the International AIDS Society's conference in Cape Town, South Africa, Bloomberg reports. The drug decreased the virus in the body "without the signs of resistance linked to treatments from" Merck's Isentress and Gilead Sciences' Elvitegravir, according to Bloomberg. GSK will begin a larger trial of the drug this month, Sherene Min, the director of clinical pharmacology discovery medicine for GSK, said. Michael Saag, director of the Center for AIDS Research at the University of Alabama, who is not affiliated with the study, said the scale of viral reduction was "spectacular," adding, "In 10 days to go to undetectable is pretty strong. This thing's working." (Bennett, 7/21).

The Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report contains additional coverage of the International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention.

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