News: CCR5

When it comes to health problems in people with HIV, inflammation is the flavor of the day. In the case of TBR-652, a CCR5 inhibitor in the earliest stages of testing in humans, that's an awfully good thing. What sets TBR-652 apart from other CCR5 inhibitors -- heck, all other antiretrovirals on the market today -- is that it's also designed specif

My group has developed the techniques to perform this genome editing with high efficiency in human hematopoeitic stem cells (HSC), and we are currently assessing this technology as an anti-HIV gene therapy by targeting the CCR5 gene.

The CCR5 inhibitor Selzentry (Celsentri, maraviroc) should be used with caution by some HIV-positive people with kidney problems, according to new info on the drug's official labeling. The labeling notes that, while research suggests that people with only mild to moderate kidney problems don't need to worry about using Selzentry, there may be a dif

Who would have thought 10 years ago that there would be a cure for AIDS? Well, according to the Journal Watch: HIV/AIDS Clinical Care, February 13, a 40-year-old man was cured of AIDS after getting bone marrow stem cell transplant from a donor who was homozygous for the defective CCR5 receptor gene, caused by a 32-bp deletion.

In addition to his discussion on the future of antiretroviral therapy, Dr. Gallant also took some time to walk us through the major studies presented at CROI 2010 regarding HIV drugs in development, including the "quad" tablet, vicriviroc and a CCR5 inhibitor known as TBR-652.

The FDA Antiviral Drugs Advisory Committee has voted to recommend maraviroc (Selzentry, Pfizer) tablets for use in treatment-naive adult patients with CCR5-tropic HIV.

There are not too many HIV/AIDS drugs in the development pipeline. However, one drug -- the nearly unpronounceable medication vicriviroc -- may be the next out of the gates. Just like Selzentry (Celsentri, maraviroc), vicriviroc is a CCR5 inhibitor.

Schering-Plough has reported long-term positive data with vicriviroc, its investigational CCR5 receptor antagonist, from an ongoing, open-label extension of the Phase II Victor-E1 study in treatment-experienced HIV-infected patients.