New protease inhibitor looks promising.An antiretroviral medication under development may work in HIV-infected patients for whom existing drugs fall short. The new drug, called TMC TMC Technology Marketing Corporation (Norwalk, Connecticut) TMC Texas Medical Center (Houston, TX) TMC Traffic Message Channel TMC The Movie Channel TMC Traffic Management Center 114 by maker Tibotec of Mechelen, Belgium, belongs to a class of agents known as protease inhibitors Protease Inhibitors Definition A protease inhibitor is a type of drug that cripples the enzyme protease. An enzyme is a substance that triggers chemical reactions in the body. , which are commonly prescribed to control HIV HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), either of two closely related retroviruses that invade T-helper lymphocytes and are responsible for AIDS. There are two types of HIV: HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIV-1 is responsible for the vast majority of AIDS in the United States. but often lose effectiveness over time. Richard Haubrich of the University of California, San Diego UCSD is consistently ranked among the top ten public universities for undergraduate education in the United States by U.S. News & World Report.[3] It is a Public Ivy. [1] For graduate studies, most of UCSD's Ph.D. and his colleagues gave various doses of TMC114 to almost 400 people for whom a different protease inhibitor was failing to control HIV. Compared with 100 volunteers who received standard drug treatment during the initial 24 weeks of an ongoing study, those receiving TMC114 had significant reductions in the presence of viral particles in their blood. The most effective dose reduced this viral load by 97 percent, on average, Haubrich reported late last month in Boston at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infection.--B.H. |
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