| Johnson and Johnson HIV drug gets EU marketing authorisation | Posted on 01/09/2008 in Pharmaceutical Company Product News Tibotec Pharmaceuticals, a member of the Johnson & Johnson family of companies, has announced that Intelence (etravirine) has received marketing authorisation in the European Union (EU) as a combination therapy for HIV.
The company said the compound is the first non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) to show antiviral activity in patients with a virus resistant to NNRTIs.
It noted the drug is the first new NNRTI to be introduced for around a decade.
Intelence was developed by Tibotec Pharmacueticals and will be marketed in Europe by Tibotec, a division of Janssen-Cilag.
The compound is indicated for the treatment of HIV infection in antiretroviral treatment-experienced adult patients in combination with other antiretroviral products and a boosted protease inhibitor.
Professor Christine Katlama, head of the Aids Clinical Research Unit in the Department of Infectious Diseases at Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital in Paris, France, said: "NNRTIs have been trusted by physicians and used in antiretroviral therapy for more than a decade, but NNRTI resistance has limited the use of this important class of HIV medication."
She added that Intelence expands the NNRTI class to thousands of treatment-experienced patients in Europe to offer them the potential to suppress the virus in their bloodstream to undetectable levels.
In February 2008, Johnson & Johnson announced the publication of 48-week efficacy and safety data for Intelence as part of an HIV combination therapy.Other news stories from 01/09/2008
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