Pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences Inc.’s next-generation HIV drug TAF was found safe for people suffering from mild or moderate kidney impairment, according to a new study.
The study has raised high hopes of boosting the chances treatment of replacing a current standard therapy for HIV.
The researchers involved 242 people with HIV-positive status for the study. It was found that a TAF-based drug cocktail contributed in lowering a kidney disease marker and not worsening the kidney function of the HIV-positive participants.
Notably, the existing methods of treatments have been found harming bones and kidneys of the HIV-positive people.
The company has already submitted its application for an HIV regimen based on TAF to the US regulating bodies, and the treatment is set to witness a ruling by November.
In his presentation to the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference in January this year, Gilead’s chief operating officer John Milligan said, “HIV medication is given for decades, people who come onto therapy in their 20s are estimated to be able to live to their 70s and they need lifelong therapy. That means we need the simplest, safest medication for these patients going forward, and we think that TAF can be the most important component of that long-term therapy.”
If TAF (or tenofovir alafenamide) gets approval from the regulators, it is likely to eventually substitute Gilead’s Viread in HIV combination treatments.
The US patent of Gilead on Viread will expire in 2017. Hence, the new TAF-based regimen would offer the doctors a better alternative to Viread for the kidney-impaired patients.
The study was presented at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections this week.
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