AEGiS-Reuters: (RE) FDA sees promise in new anti-AIDS drugs

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

(RE) FDA sees promise in new anti-AIDS drugs

Reuters NewMedia, Inc. - 5 Nov 1995

WASHINGTON (Reuter) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is very upbeat about the potential for a new, potent class of anti-AIDS drugs, FDA Commissioner David Kessler told the Washington Post.

Kessler was quoted in Monday editions of the paper as saying the drugs, known as "protease inhibitors," were "the best news we've had in a while in the fight against AIDS."

He cautioned against unrealistic expectations for the drugs, but added, "These drugs, in the right combination with other drugs, have potential that we have not seen before."

"As a group, these are the most active compounds that we have seen against the virus," it quoted Kessler as saying.

The Post said Kessler's statement was a clear signal that the FDA expects to move expeditiously on getting protease inhibitors to market.

The drugs are due to discussed in three days of meetings that begin Monday by the agency's Antiviral Drugs Advisory Committee.

Protease inhibitors would be the first new class of therapy against HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, since the agency approved AZT, the best known AIDS drug, in 1987.

Specifically, the Post said, the panel would consider saquinavir, which would be marketed by Hoffman-La Roche under the brand name Invirase.

Like all the drugs in its class, Invirase workes by blocking an enzyme, HIV proteinase, which is crucial to the replication of the virus that causes AIDS.

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