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CNN Live At Daybreak

New Drugs Set to Help in Battle Against HIV, AIDS

Aired February 26, 2002 - 05:25   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Turning now to the fight against AIDS, the battlefield keeps on changing. New drugs are being used to combat the disease, including one that works to prevent the virus from entering the cells it destroys.

Our Medical Correspondent Christy Feig has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This thing here, I mean sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and it is hurting so bad.

CHRISTY FEIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dr. Bruce Rashbaum is on the front lines in the war against AIDS. Many of his patients have seen HIV's death sentence turn into a chronic disease thanks to protease inhibitors. But HIV is a crafty virus and, now, for some long-term patients, has become resistant to the very drugs that have saved their lives.

DR. BRUCE RASHBAUM, INTERNIST: There's a lot of drugs out there so there's lots of different cocktail choices. But it does definitely limit our choices.

FEIG: And when those who are resistant infect someone new, they are resistant, too. So the challenge for drug companies is to developing new drugs that work against resistant virus, and they are. The pipeline is full of such drugs, including a new class called fusion inhibitors. First up in this class, T20, ready to apply for FDA approval later this year.

DR. JIM THOMMES, ROCHE PHARMACEUTICALS: T20 works by inhibiting the virus's ability to enter the target cells. Other medications work by inhibiting the virus's ability to replicate once it's already within the target cell.

FEIG: Doctors like Rashbaum welcome the new weapon.

RASHBAUM: What it brings to HIV now is a totally new class of drugs that works against resistant virus.

FEIG: But resistance is only one of the problems facing drug companies. HIV treatment today can mean swallowing as many as 20 pills a day. Mix that many pills and you can have troublesome side effects. RASHBAUM: They are getting rid of the burdensome amounts of pills. They're, they are turning towards once a day therapies, minimizing the number of pills, trying to minimize toxicity.

FEIG: So for doctors and patients, it's a battle they've been winning, but the new artillery is coming just at the right time.

Christy Feig, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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