FDA Approves Isentress
October 13, 2007
Merck & Co. said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has given accelerated approval for the use of Isentress tablets to treat HIV.
The New Jersey company said Isentress is the first medicine to be approved in a new class of anti-retroviral drugs called integrase inhibitors. The drug works by inhibiting the insertion of HIV DNA into human DNA by the integrase enzyme, limiting the ability of the virus to replicate and infect new cells, Merck said Friday in a release.
The FDA said the drug can be used in combination with other anti-retroviral agents for the treatment of HIV-1 infection in adult patients who are resistant to other anti-retroviral agents.