New Delivery System for Combination of Two FDA Approved Drugs

According to researchers at the University of Minnesota featuring the Institute for Molecular Virology, School of Dentistry and Center for Drug Design, they have developed a new delivery system that combines two FDA approved drugs that could potentially work as effective treatments for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

As most HIV drug treatments are commonly received intravenously, this delivery system would be in pill form and could be a big step forward for treating progression of the virus.

"If you have a condition that requires you to take a medication everyday, as many patients with HIV do, you wouldn't want to have to take that medication via daily injection," said Steven Patterson, Ph.D., via a press release, professor at the Center for Drug Design at the University of Minnesota. "This finding is a big step in demonstrating this treatment could be taken as a pill, similar to other HIV drugs, and is suitable for eventual clinical translation."

Researchers began their workings in August of 2010 on the drug combination that has shown to work with lethal mutagenesis and could potentially obliterate the virus to a point where infection will no longer occur.

The study also notes that this treatment could also treat cats with leukemia.

"There's still a lot of work that needs to be done to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of this drug combination before human clinical trials can begin," said Patterson, via the release. "But we're optimistic that we're moving forward."

More information regarding the study can be seen via the journal Antiviral Chemistry & Chemotherapy.