Being Alive Newsletter; December 1992
Walt Senterfit

These resistance-conferring mutations have, for instance, severely limited the early promise of newer drugs like the Merck "L drugs" and the Boeringher-Ingelheim drug nevaripine and are probably responsible for the failure of the AZT/ddI/ddC class of drugs after a (variable) period of time.

There may be a silver lining in this cloud, however. HIV also spontaneously mutates very frequently. It is turning out that many of these mutations are incapable of infecting T-cells and doing any damage. One scientist estimated that as much as 95% of the virus particles in a person's body are of such harmless varieties. If this happens naturally, some are asking, "why not try to take advantage of it and deliberately try to induce mutations that make the virus impotent?" Whereas one mutation in response to a drug may simply make the virus resistant but still infectious, perhaps throwing several different drugs at the virus may induce a combination of mutations that render it harmless. A number of laboratory scientists have begun to seek evidence for this hypothesis in the test tube, and clinical scientists are looking at the virologic results of combination therapies, especially combinations of different classes of antiviral drugs.
921201
BA921208

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/