Sunday Times, South Africa - January 30, 2000
Laurice Taitz
The drug Stocrin (efavirenz), which is manufactured by MSD, has been registered for use in combination with other anti-HIV drugs for both adult and paediatric patients.
The drug, used to treat people infected with HIV, is part of a class of drugs known as non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors. Reverse transcriptase is the part of HIV required to make a new virus and infect more cells. The inhibitors stop the reverse transcriptase from working properly, blocking HIV's infection of new cells.
Stocrin must be used in combination with other drugs because early clinical trials showed that the HIV virus developed resistance in as few as two to seven weeks when Stocrin was used alone.
The chief executive officer of MSD, Dr Donald de Korte, said that, because the drug is taken once daily - at night - it simplifies the complex drug regimens characteristic of HIV treatments.
He said: "Before the introduction of the first AIDS drugs in 1994, people were fighting for their lives. Now, in developed countries, these drugs are regarded as a treatment for chronic conditions, so patients are opting for convenience. They want treatment that will not affect the quality of their lives."
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