Adding to the cocktail

New treatments for HIV not only must gain regulatory approval, but also must fit into the cocktail regimens that are the currently accepted mode of therapy. Trimeris Inc., which reported positive Phase II data last week for its T-20 fusion inhibitor, believes that the agent's novel mechanism of action will allow T-20 to combat cocktail-resistant HIV strains and consequently be integrated into such treatments.

T-20 is a 36 amino acid peptide analog of a portion of gp41, an HIV protein with two primary domains that form a coiled-coil structure mediating the fusion of the viral and host cell membranes. By binding to one of the domains of gp41, T-20 prevents the coiled-coil structure from forming, thus preventing the virus from drawing near enough to the cell to inject its RNA...