MEDICAL UPDATE: TAT Inhibitors

MEDICAL UPDATE: TAT Inhibitors

Being Alive; February 1992
Mark Katz, MD, reported by Warren Jones and Walt Senterfitt

One of the most exciting areas of all HIV clinical research right now is work on the tat inhibitors. Tat is a gene present in every HIV particle, and essential to its replication. If a medication can satisfactorily inhibit tat, it should stop the virus. Hoffman-LaRoche's product does this quite spectacularly in the test tube. The question is whether it will do so as well in humans.

Part of the excitement is that this drug acts at a completely different point in the HIV life cycle than does AZT/DDC/DDI or the newer class of "non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors" (which have run into severe problems with rapid development of resistance). Some investigators think that resistance to the tat inhibitors is highly unlikely because of the location and critical nature of tat's action. A related predecessor drug appears active in the test tube against all HIV strains studied, even those resistant to AZT.

The drug is still in Phase I (safety and tolerance) studies at Johns Hopkins University. It may bode well that Hoffman-LaRoche has put the development of this drug back on its main agenda, after many months of slow motion while trying to find a licensee to take it over.
920201
BA920205

AEGiS is made possible through unrestricted grants from Roxane Laboratories, the National Library of Medicine, and donations from users like you. Always watch for outdated information. Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 1992. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.

Copyright © 1992 - Beings Alive. Permission granted for noncommercial reproduction, provided that our address and phone number are included if more than short quotations are used. Subscription lists are kept confidential. Being Alive, 621 N. San Vicente Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069, Tel - 310.289.2551; FAX - 310.289.9866; Email: BeiAlive@aol.com http://www.beingalivela.org/

This information is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.
©1992. AEGIS.