Is your current “drug cocktail” failing, with no real treatment options left? Well, hang in there! Gilead’s new compound tenofovir (brand name Viread) is coming to market soon. In trials, it had significant benefit as
“salvage therapy” for patients whose treatment had crashed due to resistant virus strains.
Viread is a “nuke,” a nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor, which interferes with viral reproduction in the same way AZT does. Gilead touts its low toxicity and thus minimum side effects; one-pill-a-day dosing; and slow resistance development.
FDA approval is certain. The question is, will it be available for first-line treatment or restricted just to salvage therapy? Salvage is the only way it was tested, but treatment advocates say Viread’s low toxicity and easy regimen make it too useful to limit in such a fashion. Price is “unknown but will be competitive” and analysts speculate that sales could hit $1 billion.
Ever-newer compounds are required to keep the constantly mutating AIDS virus in check, as it develops resistance to one drug after another. It’s a persistent challenge to stay at least one step ahead and Viread will be that latest step for many folks.
This article appears in November 9 • 2001.