New drug against AIDS considered

New drug against AIDS considered

BANGKOK (AFP): Thailand, which may be home to as many as
800,000 people infected with HIV, is considering approval of a
drug with a powerful record against the virus, a government AIDS
expert said yesterday.

"Abbot has studied this drug for years and the U.S. FDA
approved it this year," said Chaiyos Kunanusont, a medical expert
with the Public Health Ministry's AIDS Division, referring to the
U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Ritonavir, a protease inhibitor for the Human Immune-
deficiency Virus (HIV), is currently under consideration by the
Thai FDA, the Bangkok office of the manufacturer, U.S.-based
Abbott Laboratories said in a statement.

Protease inhibitors work differently and more effectively than
current treatments, blocking the development and reproduction of
the virus which leads to Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
(AIDS) rather than letting it reach maturity in the bloodstream,
it said.