Roche, Trimeris say Fuzeon supported for use in HIV therapy

By Elaine Rigoli

Tampa, Fla., Aug. 14 - Hoffmann-La Roche, Inc. and Trimeris, Inc., which have co-developed HIV inhibitor Fuzeon, said the current edition of the International AIDS society's Journal of the American Medical Association recommend that the goal of therapy in heavily treatment-experienced patients should be to achieve undetectable levels of HIV (less than 50 copies/mL) and highlight the results from several pivotal studies with newer anti-HIV treatments, such as darunavir and tipranavir, in which concomitant use of Fuzeon was associated with a significantly greater likelihood of achieving this result.

Detectable HIV can lead to drug resistance, and recent research shows 66% of HIV patients in the United States have detectable viral levels, according to a news release.

In order to combat these rates of resistance and improve the chances of reaching undetectable - which has been shown to improve clinical outcomes - the newly issued guidelines recognize that patients need the full potency of at least two fully active drugs, such as Fuzeon and a newer boosted protease inhibitor.

Prior to the simultaneous availability of these drugs which retain activity against drug-resistant virus, achieving undetectable in a significant number of heavily treatment-experienced patients was not possible.

"This concept of the significance of getting HIV to under 50 copies/mL is not complicated. If viral load is over 50 copies/mL, resistance can develop, leading to deterioration in immune function and eventually resulting in disease progression. Now that the IAS-USA guidelines have been updated, doctors must aim for an undetectable viral load if they have the drugs available - none of us should be complacent," the founder and executive director of the National AIDS Treatment Advocacy Project, Jules Levin, said in the release.

Roche, based in Nutley, N.J., is a pharmaceutical company.

Trimeris is a biopharmaceutical company based in Morrisville, N.C.

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