Patients taking an experimental HIV drug showed a 90 percent average decrease in HIV levels, prompting the U.S. Food & Drug Administration to place the new class of drugs on its fast-track list earlier this year.
PA-457 is the first in the new category of HIV medicines called maturation inhibitors. It is intended to treat patients who have become resistant to available treatments.
The drug works during virus maturation, which occurs during the final stage of HIV reproduction when the virus has been released from an infected cell and is seeking to invade a new cell.
Specifically, PA-457 blocks a key step in the processing of a viral core protein called capsid, according to Carl Wild, chief science officer at Panacos Pharmaceuticals, the company developing the drug.
http://www.southernvoice.com/2005/10-7/news/national/nationalnews_hiv.cfm