Resistance to HIV drugs on the increase

By Karen Carstens

Date: 30/10/03

AN ALARMING rise in resistance to HIV treatments must be countered by more coordinated action at EU level, an MEP has warned.

“We once had this doomsday scenario for AIDS and it hasn't happened. But now people are talking about a second wave,”.said UK Conservative John Bowis, who is drafting a Parliamentary report on an EU disease-control centre, which is due to be up and running by 2005.

At present, one-in-ten new HIV cases diagnosed in Europe is drug resistant. In the US, some 23% of patients are resistant, a figure that rises to 27% for California alone.

“We're getting big numbers, and that's quite frightening,”.Bowis said.

The deputy had submitted a written question to the European Commission asking what it was doing to prevent an epidemic.

The Commission cited EU research efforts, including several projects on HIV-drug resistance, with a budget in excess of €8 million.

It also said it was exploring possible future cooperation in Europe through ongoing talks with member states, which control their own health policies.

But Bowis said the Commission must act now.

One answer to the problem could be a new generation of HIV drugs, called fusion inhibitors. Fuzeon (enfuvirtide), for example, has been jointly developed by Basel-based pharmaceuticals giant Roche and North Carolina company Trimeris.

Fuzeon prevents the entry of viruses into healthy host cells. Unlike existing anti-HIV drugs, which act inside the cell, Fuzeon works on the outside blocking the fusion of the virus with immune-system cells.

The drug was approved by the Commission in May.