icon_folder.gif   Conference Reports for NATAP  
 
  ICAAC
Interscience Conference on Antimicrobal Agents and Chemotherapy
December 16-19, 2005 Washington DC
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The Different Clinical Pharmacology of Elvucitabine (B-L-Fd4C) Enables the Nuke Drug to be Given in a Safe and Effective Manner with Innovative Dosing Regimens
 
 
  Reported by Jules Levin
ICAAC Dec 18, 2005 Wash DC
 
Elvucitabine (ELV) is a L-cytosine nucleoside with potent in vitro anti-HIV activity (IC50 of 1ng/mL in PBMCs) and a prolonged T1/2 (> 100 hours). At doses > 50 mg/day, ELV was associated with bone marrow toxicity. PK/PD modeling suggested that lower daily doses would be effective and non-toxic. This study was done to validate the results of the modeling and further investigate the ELV clinical pharmacology using dosing of both once daily and every 48 hours.
 
In this NATAP report from the 2003 resistance Workshop in Los Cabos, Mexico, you can read about the toxicity that stopped development of this drug at higher doses than examined in the study presented at ICAAC. The drug has shown potent activity against 3TC resistance and against HBV. Serious bone marrow suppression was experienced by 4 patients in 100mg group and 2 patients in the 50mg group. 4 patients (3 in 50mg group, 1 in 100 mg group) with mild to moderate maculopapular rash which resolved with drug discontinuation. 10/20 patients receiving 100mg dose and 6/24 patients receiving the 50 mg dose experienced a decrease of 2,000 white blood cells or more. 3 patients in 50mg group and 3 in 100mg group experienced decrease of 1500 to 2000 cells. 4 in 50mg group and 3 in 100mg group experienced 1000 to 1500 decrease in cells. And 4 patients in 50mg group and 0 in the 100mg group experienced decrease of 1000 or less cells.
 
http://www.natap.org/2003/resistance/day3.htm
 
24 HIV patients received ELV 5 or 10mg once daily or 20mg every 48 hours for 21 days with concomitant Kaletra (400mg lopinavir/100mg ritonavir, q12h) treatment. Plasma samples were collected over 35 days for ELV concentrations. Plasma HIV RNA was measured over 28 days. PK/PD analyses were done using noncompartmental and compartmental analyses.
 
As predicted by PK/PD modeling, ELV was efficacious and non-toxic at the doses administered. At Day 21 vs. baseline, HIV RNA copies decreased 1.8, 1.9 and 2.0 log10 for the 5mg qd, 10 mg qd and 20 q48h cohorts.
 
Due to the long ELV T1/2, Kaletra was continued to Day 35 for the 2 higher doses. Of note, ELV concentrations at Day 28 were 3x above the IC50. The continued activity 7 days after stoppage of ELV supports less frequent dosing (qw & biw) suggested by the modeling. There was a trend toward a greater efficacy of the 20 mg q48h cohort, verified by a higher percentage decrease in HIV log copies from baseline. No cohort had safety issues or emergence of resistance.
 
The authors concluded that these results further validate that ELV is safe and effective. ELV's attractive pharmacological profile may allow it to display a significantly better barrier to resistance than other agents as it is less affected by compliance issues and may display higher and prolonged IQ ratios. Further evaluation of ELV with less frequent dosing regimens is warranted.
 
Reference
P. COLUCCI1,2, J. POTTAGE 3, H. ROBISON 3, D. SCHURMANN 4, I. M. HOEPELMAN 5, A. SEAMAN 3, M. P. DUCHARME 1,2; 1MDSPS, Montreal, Canada, 2U. of Montreal, Montreal, Canada, 3Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., New Haven, CT, 4Charite, U. Med. Berlin, Berlin, Germany, 5U. Med. Ctr., Utrecht, The Netherlands. Presentation Number: LB-27
 
Spring 2001 Report - New Experimental HIV Drugs
Dr. Lisa Dunckle of Achillion presented data indicating the L-Fd4C ... And, combining L-Fd4C with either ddI, d4T, or ddC led to improvements in ... www.natap.org/2001/www.natap.org/2001/
 
Treatment for Hepatitis B Looks Promising
Nezam Afdhal reported ACH-126, 443 (L-Fd4C) is an L-nucleoside analog. Early clinical studies showed this drug to be potent against HBV, ... www.natap.org/2002/AASLD/day18.htm