Molecules for Health, Inc., Presents Findings of Novel HIV/AIDS Therapy

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showed that Didox had two-fold greater anti-HIV activity; hydroxyurea only
reduced viral titers to 2.7 x 10 TCID50/106 cells.
Evaluation of the HIV RNA data - the key piece of data now used to establish
anti-HIV efficacy in human clinical trials and widely used in clinical practice to
determine whether HIV replication is under control in patients on
antiretroviral therapy - revealed that results were consistent with the TCID50
data. In lymph nodes, the average HIV RNA logio copies per one million cells
was reduced from 1.6 x 106 per 106 cells (untreated mice) to undetectable levels
(Didox-treated mice). Hydroxyurea-treated mice had only a small effect,
reducing HIV RNA to 2.6 x 105 per 106 cells. In peritoneal cells, the average HIV
RNA loglo copies per one million cells was reduced from 4.5 x 105 per 106 cells
(untreated mice) to 5.1 x 101 copies per 106 cells (Didox-treated mice).
Hydroxyurea-treated mice, again, had only a small effect, reducing HIV RNA to
6.2 x 104 per 106 cells.
Additional studies examined the effect of combination antiretroviral therapy
consisting of either Didox and the nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor,
didanosine (ddl or Videx~), or hydroxyurea and ddl. Both combination
regimens were highly effective in suppressing HIV replication in SCID-hu
mice; HIV RNA copies per one million cells were undetectable with both
combination treatments.
Didox treatment also had a positive effect on the immune response of HIVinfected mice. Treatment with Didox, either alone or in combination with ddl,
resulted in a significant increase in the CD4: CD8 cell ratio. (Both CD4+ and
CD8+ lymphocytes, perhaps the most important cells in the body's immune
response against pathogens like HIV, are known to be severely affected by HIV