New maturation inhibitor drugs may help solve HIV treatment conundrum

Since AIDS was first recognized in 1981, significant advances have been made in developing an effective arsenal of drugs to manage the disease and extend patients' lives.

However, HIV's ability to mutate and become resistant to current drugs is a persistent threat, and many patients don't benefit from or cannot tolerate complex combination regimens. According to a new report from Kalorama Information entitled "HIV: Markets for Diagnostics and Therapeutics," research is underway to develop more potent therapies that have fewer toxic effects and are easier to administer, including a new category of anti-HIV drugs called maturation inhibitors.

Maturation inhibitor treatments may provide a viable solution to the HIV treatment conundrum. They are one of several new treatments showing promise and driving the world market, which Kalorama estimates at $20.8 billion in 2008, with a theoretical potential of $253.3 billion.

"Viral maturation is the process that occurs during the last stages of HIV reproduction after the virus has been released from an infected cell," notes Kenneth Krul, PhD, the author of the study. "It involves the processing of viral protein for the infected cell and is required for the virus to become infectious. These new treatments work by inhibiting the viral maturation process so new viruses cannot go on to infect other cells in the body."

One such first-in-its-class maturation inhibitor is Bevirimat, which functions to release noninfectious particles and to terminate viral replication. Bevirimat is currently in Phase II clinical trials. It is being evaluated as an oral, once-daily monotherapy for activity against HIV-1 in patients who are resistant to available treatments or in those who are infected with wild-type HIV-1 strains.

Kalorama Information's report, "HIV: Markets for Diagnostics and Therapeutics," includes a comprehensive look at the market and opportunity for both testing and treatments, examines the potential theoretical markets and what will be realistic in the current world healthcare system. Extensive epidemiological statistics for HIV in ten World Health Organization (WHO) health regions are provided.