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FOR RELEASE: Embargoed for release until Friday, Jan. 24, 1997, at 9 a.m. EST

NEVIRAPINE AND PROTEASE INHIBITOR "COCKTAILS" ARE SAFE FOR HIV PATIENTS

CHICAGO --- Nevirapine, a potent new drug used to treat HIV-infected patients, can be safely used in combination with protease inhibitors, according to one of the nation's leading AIDS researchers. Nevirapine is a member of a class of antiretroviral drugs called non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors.

According to Robert L. Murphy, M.D., associate professor of medicine at Northwestern University Medical School, "'Cocktail' mixtures of these two classes of drugs open up a whole new realm of treatment possibilities for people infected with HIV."

Murphy described the effects of combined nevirapine and protease inhibitor therapy in HIV patients today (Jan. 24) at the Fourth Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Washington, D.C. Murphy is a member of the Comprehensive AIDS Center at Northwestern University and director of the AIDS Clinical Treatment Unit at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

Combined use of nevirapine and protease inhibitors has been reported to lower the effectiveness of protease inhibitors. Murphy said clinicians have been reluctant to use these two types of drugs together -- that is, until more data became available.

Nevirapine is an inducer of metabolism, i.e., it makes other drugs break down faster in the liver, thus possibly reducing the amount of protease inhibitor in the blood. However, Murphy and colleagues found that these reductions are not clinically significant.

"Combined use of nevirapine and protease inhibitors is safe and requires little, if any, adjustment in the dosage of protease inhibitors," Murphy said.

The group studied the effects of administration of nevirapine with each of the three licensed protease inhibitors -- indinavir, ritonavir or saquinavir -- in 50 HIV-infected patients. Their preliminary findings showed that concomitant treatment with nevirapine plus either indinavir or saquinavir resulted in a 27 to 28 percent reduction of protease inhibitor in the blood. Nevirapine plus ritonavir caused a 10 percent reduction in protease inhibitor blood values.

Despite this reduction, the HIV virus remained suppressed, suggesting that the reductions are not clinically significant.

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(Editor's note: Dr. Murphy can be reached at Sheraton Washington Hotel at 202-328-2000. Daily updates on presentations at the Fourth Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections are available on the World Wide Web at http://www.healthcg.com or http://www.retroconference.org.)