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November 23, 2009
FDA Approves Selzentry for Treatment First-Timers
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the entry inhibitor Selzentry (maraviroc) for people just starting antiretroviral (ARV) therapy for the first time, according to an announcement by the drug’s maker, ViiV Healthcare.
Selzentry works by keeping HIV from attaching to a CD4 cell coreceptor called CCR5. Most strains of HIV use CCR5 to enter and infect CD4 cells. Some strains of HIV use another coreceptor, however, and Selzentry doesn’t work against those strains of virus. Thus, before you can start Selzentry treatment, a tropism test must be conducted to determine what coreceptors your virus uses.
Selzentry was originally approved in August 2007 for people who had developed resistance to other HIV drugs. To determine approval for treatment first-timers, the FDA reviewed data that compared Selzentry to Sustiva (efavirenz). When people were determined to carry only virus that used CCR5, Selzentry was roughly similar in efficacy to Sustiva, and had few side effects.
Search: Selzentry, maraviroc, FDA, approval, Sustiva, efavirenz
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