While HDAC inhibitors are making cure headlines from Danish researchers, ARVs desperately needed for drug resistant and salvage therapy patients are still lingering just out of reach.New and easy to take fixed drug combinations (FDC) have made treating and living with HIV substantially more convenient.
With three FDCs already approved by the FDA (Complera, Atripla and Stribild) and several more in the pipeline, for many, choosing an HIV regimen is becoming much simpler. However, a significant number of people living with HIV are unable to utilize many of these drugs due to drug resistance or an inability to tolerate the side effects. These individuals are in desperate need of salvage therapy options. A campaign is underway to garner the necessary support for facilitation of the final stage of clinical development for a new NRTI for treatment-experienced drug resistant patients, Apricitabine (ATC), which will allow for the construction of salvage regimens and predictably save lives.
An ATC Community Support Petition Letter has been written and addressed to Congressman Alcee Hastings and Congresswoman Barbara Lee. It asks these HIV friendly legislatures to send a Dear Colleague Letter to Dr. Tony Fauci (head of the NIH) requesting that the NIH conduct the registration study of ATC in one of the federally sponsored HIV clinical trial networks for HIV patients in need of salvage therapy. It will also be circulated to Members of the Congressional HIV/AIDS Caucus, Congressional Biotechnology Caucus and GOP Doctor’s Caucus asking for their support as well.
Due to the improved ability of newer first line regimens to suppress HIV, rates of drug resistance appear to be decreasing. However, people with HIV are now living longer and with increasingly complex treatment histories, as well as the rise of transmitted drug resistance, many are running out of options to construct a viable drug regimen capable of suppressing their virus.
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