Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors in Development

I found some interesting information on some newer drugs this week one of them being Etravirine which is used in antiretroviral therapy.

Etravirine is a antiretroviral non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor which in non medical terms means it stops HIV from multiplying by inhibiting and/or preventing the reverse transcriptase enzymess from working and turns the genetic material RNA into DNA.

The drug is more used in people that have already used serveral combinations of drugs to fight the HIV infection.

I guess one of the main problems when making drugs for HIV is that it tends to mutate creating new copies slightly different than the original virus. Some viruses will develope resistance to one drug as well as other ARV's ....this is known as cross resistance. Etravirine is one of the drugs that shows much more promise when controling the virus that as resistance to other drugs.

Did you know: Etravirine doses are recommended to be around 400 milligrams or 2 tablets per day the wholesale cose is said to be around $5.45 per tablet which is somewhat in the lower range.

Drug companies taking advantage of HIV/AIDS patients

Well I was doing some research on new drugs for HIV/AIDS patients and to my surprise I seem to have found more articles and information on how drug companies seem to be over charging for drugs than information on the drugs themselves.

These companies such as Merck Pharmaceuticals are charging crazy amounts for their HIV/AIDS drugs basically due to the fact they can, until generics are able to enter that realm. For those of you that don't know all drug companies patent their drugs and this patent pretty much makes a monopoly for the specific drug they made. Drug patents can last up to 20 years and makes it so that no other company can manufacture that specific drug during that time. This is how drug companies can charge just about anything due to the fact that there is no competition to sell that particular product for less.

Anyway Merck is selling its drug Isentress (a anti-retroviral treatment for AIDS) for about $12,870 per year. Now I don't know about you but there really are'nt too many people that I know of that can afford to fork up over $1100.00 a month! as part of their monthly supplement regime. But being the nature of the beast most people put in the position of being HIV/AIDs positive have no other choice but to fork up the money to keep them alive.

DID YOU KNOW?

In Africa, the continent the worst-hit by the global AIDS pandemic, Isentress costs about $1,200 US dollars per patient, per year which is over 20 times more than any other AIDS drug.

HIV a Human Concern #1

Hello!

My name is Devin Gilliland I'm taking this class to due to the fact my interests in science are viruses and how they interact with cells and other organ systems in the body. I'm very interested in aquiring information on HIV as it pertains to transmission of the disease, and the overall process in which the disease devlopes and attacks the body. This semester I hope to have a better understanding of the processes of the disease and how people with this disease deal with it. I am also very interested in what new drugs and possible vaccines or cures may be coming down the line in the near future and how these drugs work in conjunction with the virus. As I learn more I'll put up what intererests me personally as well as interesting facts about this disease.