IANS

NEW YORK: A new revolutionary drug manufactured by a US biotechnology company could block the spread of HIV, say scientists after finding its benefits in a small-scale human trial.

Panacos Pharmaceuticals in Maryland, USA which is developing PA-457, hopes to begin trials this month to test how well the drug works in patients whose drug regimes are failing.

About 80 per cent of people being treated for HIV show resistance to one or more of their drugs, a spokesman for Panacos said. There are several existing ways of tackling HIV. Many medications work by blocking the enzyme that enables HIV to replicate within a cell. Others disable protease, which helps the virus infect other cells.

The new drug, a derivative of betulinic acid, is a cheap by-product of the paper industry and one of a new class of drugs called maturation inhibitors. It works by interfering with the production of the capsid protein, a conical “shield” which protects the genetic material of HIV inside it.

The drug is still in its early stages, and will not be generally available for at least three years, he said. The small human trial of the drug reported that it clears most HIV from the blood.