New HIV/AIDS medication approved

Pfizer announced yesterday that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved maraviroc, known as Selzentry, for the treatment of HIV/AIDS. 

 According to an article by Bloomberg News, Selzentry will be available sometime next month and will be priced at approximately $900 / month wholesale.

Selzentry joins Fuzeon as a drug that blocks the entry or fusion of the HIV virus into CD4+ T cells.  In the case of Selzentry, the drug binds to the cell membrane protein, CCR5, preventing the HIV virus from entering the T-cell.  Adding to the existing armamentarium of HIV drugs (protease inhibitors, nucleoside/nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors, non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors), Selzentry offers patients with resistant HIV an option for further effective treatment.

Selzentry was approved based in large part on data from two clinical trials - MOTIVATE 1 and MOTIVATE 2.

Healogica MD