Reports from CCR5 Antagonist meeting

6 February 2006. Related: On the web.

Forum for Collaborative HIV Research
http://www.hivforum.org/projects/CCR5.htm

CCR5 antagonists, the next therapeutic class for treatment of HIV infection, have the potential to significantly alter the landscape of HIV treatment by providing a new class of drug that targets a host cellular receptor rather than a viral enzyme.

The development of any new drug class for HIV treatment occurs in the context of existing therapies and raises issues and concerns related to potential class-specific toxicities, drug resistance and pharmacokinetic interactions. The development of CCR5 antagonists raises additional issues specific to this class of drugs, including their effect on the dynamics of R5, X4 and R5X4 virus strains and the long-term effects on host inflammatory and immune systems.