Phase II Trial Shows Tanox's Experimental Entry Inhibitor Lowers HIV Viral Loads in Treatment-Experienced Patients

Houston-based pharmaceutical company Tanox on Wednesday released the results of a Phase II clinical trial that showed its experimental entry inhibitor TNX-355 lowered HIV viral loads after 24 weeks better than a placebo, the Wall Street Journal reports (Chase, Wall Street Journal, 10/26). Entry inhibitors block HIV before it enters human cells rather than fighting it once inside the cells Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 1/6). The trial enrolled 82 treatment-experienced HIV-positive patients who had viral loads of at least 10,000 copies per milliliter and CD4+ T cell counts of at least 50 cells per milliliter and were failing or had recently failed to respond to highly active antiretroviral therapy, according to a Tanox release. One-third of the patients received a placebo and two-thirds received one of two doses of TNX-355 (Tanox release, 10/26). All of the trial participants also received standard antiretroviral therapy, according to the Journal (Wall Street Journal, 10/26). An abstract of additional data from the trial -- which Tanox plans to continue to 48 weeks -- was submitted to the 45th annual Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, scheduled for Dec. 16-19 in Washington, D.C. (Tanox release, 10/26). Tanox said it plans to conduct a Phase III trial of TNX-355 in 2006 and apply for FDA approval in 2008 (Wall Street Journal, 10/26).

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