Possible new HIV treatment is developed
MONTREAL, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- A team of Canadian and U.S. medical scientists has identified a potential new treatment for the human immunodeficiency virus-related lipodystrophy syndrome.
The syndrome -- associated with the use of anti-retroviral drugs -- results in the loss of subcutaneous fat and an increase in deep abdominal fat, leading many patients to stop taking anti-retroviral medications. The syndrome also causes increased long-term cardiovascular risks.
Dr. Julian Falutz, director of the HIV Metabolic Clinic at the McGill University Health Center in Montreal and Dr. Steven Grinspoon, director at the Massachusetts General Hospital Program in Nutritional Metabolism -- in collaboration with Theratechnologies Inc., a Montreal biotechnology com -- developed a synthetic analogue of the naturally occurring growth hormone-releasing factor, or GRF-tesamorelin.
The effectiveness of the drug in reducing increased deep abdominal fat and decreasing blood lipid levels was initially confirmed in a small phase II study published in 2005. The recent large phase III study followed 412 patients for six months.
The researchers found patients treated with tesamorelin experienced an average 15 percent abdominal fat decrease, compared with a 5 percent average increase for the placebo group.
The study appears in the New England Journal of Medicine.
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