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Yessi Pratiwi — August 15, 2007 / 2:34 pm
On 6 August, the US Food and Drug Adminstration (FDA) approved Pfizer’s drug maraviroc, the first in a new class of HIV drugs designed to prevent the virus entering the immune system’s CD4 cells, American Scientist reported.
The drug will only be given to people who have had “pharmacogenetic” testing to show that their type of HIV enters CD4 cells via a particular molecule. In fact, to enter the cells, HIV binds to both the CD4 receptor and one of two co-receptors, CCR5 and CXCR4. Maraviroc specifically blocks the CCR5 co-receptor, so the FDA has approved the drug for the 50 to 60 per cent of people with HIV who have forms of the virus that latch onto CCR5.
This is the first time a drug has been approved on the condition that people have a genetic test on a virus. Maraviroc is also intended only for people whose other HIV drugs no longer work, and will carry a warning of possible liver damage.
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