Agouron's AIDS Drug Races Against Time and Titans

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1995. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Agouron's AIDS Drug Races Against Time and Titans

Wall Street Journal (12/20/95) P. B4
Rundle, Rhonda L.

Agouron Pharmaceuticals is fourth in the rush to commercialize a new class of AIDS drugs called protease inhibitors. Leader Hoffmann-La Roche recently became the first to receive approval for a protease inhibitor. To win a piece of the HIV market, the small company must demonstrate that its Viracept compound is superior--a task which is difficult because there are fewer untreated patients. Another consideration is that the effectiveness of this compound and other protease inhibitors may be reduced in patients who have already used other drugs in the same family. Martin Markowitz, one of the physicians investigating Viracept at the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, comments, "Bottom line is that Agouron has to move quickly before [second- and third-place drug companies] Merck and Abbott get approved." Agouron expects to launch large-scale trials in early February, with as many as 1,500 patients enrolled before the other companies drugs are approved. If all goes well, the company says it hopes to be selling Viracept by mid-1997.

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