A NEW type of drug that shuts the door HIV uses to enter cells is just as potent as current AIDS treatments, a first clinical trial suggests.
Existing drugs such as AZT and protease inhibitors stop the virus replicating by blocking key enzymes. But with the creeping threat of drug resistance doctors know more drugs are needed.
So some researchers tried a different tactic and designed a synthetic peptide called T-20 that blocks the fusion of the virus with cell membranes of the white blood cells it infectsthe process that allows HIV's RNA inside. The first test on people suggests the drug has potential, says Michael Kilby of the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Kilby's team tested T-20 in 16 HIV-infected adults. Patients receiving the highest intravenous dose for two weeks had a near 100-fold drop in blood virus levels with no significant side effects (
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