Status report on the integrase inhibitors

Question:

Hi. Are integrase inhibitor drugs still under development or have they entered into FDA clinical trials? If so, does this new class of anti-viral drug look promising? What would be some of its advantages/disadvantages? Thanks.

Dr. Pavia's Response:

To my knowledge, one integrase inhibitor has made it into clinical trials; AR-177 made by Aronex. The drug even has a name: Zintevir. A late breaker was presented at Vancouver by Steve Deeks and Jim Kahn from San Francisco General on preliminary results of a phase 1 study. Single doses were given at 3 different dose levels. At these levels the drug was well tolerated, decent blood levels were achieved and preliminary results showed a decrease in viral load.

With this kind of study, we can't say much about how effective a drug this will be, but what is exciting is that it shows that integrase is a good target - proving the idea of integrase inhibitors as a concept. The potential for attacking HIV at three or more stages of the life cycle has theoretic advantages which can now be explored.

Other compounds are under development. I am not aware of others in clinical trials yet.