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

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infection.) Although treatment with hydroxyurea, alone and in combination
with ddl, also led to an improved CD4:CD8 ratio, the magnitude of
improvement was considerably less than that associated with Didox treatment.
Together, these findings indicate that Didox, a newly developed compound,
may be a potent single-agent component of combination therapy regimens for
HIV/ AIDS. Unlike the currently marketed HIV/ AIDS drugs, all of which
directly attack viral enzymes, Didox and related compounds being developed
by MFH target and inhibit ribonucleotide reductase - one of the cellular
enzymes that HIV usurps for its continued replication. The targeting of a
cellular enzyme may mean drug resistance is less likely to occur with the
ribonucleotide reductase inhibitor drugs.
By interfering with this cellular enzyme, Didox and other drugs in this class
inhibit the production of deoxynucleotides and thus viral DNA synthesis. In
addition, Didox and related compounds reduce cellular deoxynucleotide levels,
which is believed to enhance the effectiveness of the currently approved
nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs), including ddl, when the
two types of anti-HIV drugs are coadministered.
Didox and its related compounds represent a promising new approach to
HIV/ AIDS treatment - a high priority of the drug development efforts at
Molecules For Health, Inc. The immediate goal of the funded studies are to
determine the full potential of two leading MFH compounds, Didox and
Trimidox, used alone and in combination with NRTIs such as ddl, d4T, 3TC, or
ZDV, as well as with the protease inhibitor, nelfinavir. Although Didox is
predicted to show single-agent activity, based on results in the SCID-hu mouse