ICAAC clinical trials review available.

ICAAC, the Inter-Science Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, was held this year in San Diego, September 27-30. This annual conference focuses mainly on the development of new antibiotics and antivirals. On October 11 HIVandHepatitis.com published a review of the HIV clinical trial presentations at ICAAC, by Charles Hicks, M.D.; it is available at: http://www.hivandhepatitis.com/2002conf/iccac2002/pages/35.html

Some of the topics:

* Atazanavir, an experimental protease inhibitor being developed by Bristol-Myers Squibb, was compared in a large international trial with efavirenz (brand name Sustiva--or Stocrin in some countries);

* 3TC (Epivir) was successfully dosed for once-daily use;

* Coviracil, an experimental nucleoside reverse-transcriptase inhibitor, was compared with d4T; and

* For certain advanced patients, a combination of amprenavir (Agenerase) and lopinavir plus ritonavir (Kaletra), with some extra ritonavir (Norvir) added to overcome an interaction that would reduce the levels the other two drugs, appeared to work well.

All of these trials showed promising results that may improve HIV treatment in the future.