Merck's ISENTRESSâ„¢ (raltegravir) Tablets, FDA-Approved for HIV

Filed in archive FDA Approvals , HIV & AIDS , Treatment on October 15, 2007

The US FDA has recently granted accelerated approval to Merck's ISENTRESSâ„¢ (raltegravir) tablets for use in combination with other antiretroviral agents for the treatment of HIV-1 infection in treatment-experienced adult patients who have evidence of viral replication and HIV-1 strains resistant to multiple antiretroviral agents.




ISENTRESSâ„¢ is the first medicine to be approved in a new class of antiretroviral drugs called integrase inhibitors that works by inhibiting the insertion of HIV DNA into human DNA by the integrase enzyme.

According to Joseph J. Eron Jr., M.D., professor of medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, unc chapel hill School of Medicine:

"The development of ISENTRESS is a significant milestone in the history of HIV/AIDS therapy because we now have a drug that's potent against another key enzyme essential for viral replication.

It's important for physicians to know that ISENTRESS should always be used in combination with other active agents."

ISENTRESSâ„¢ is the only drug approved that inhibits the integrase enzyme thereby limiting the ability of the virus to replicate and infect new cells.

Find more details from Merck's press release.