Adventrx: Preclinical data show strong antiviral synergy for Thiovir with zidovudine against HIV

By E. Janene Geiss

Philadelphia, April 3 - Adventrx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced Monday that data showed strong antiviral synergy without added cytotoxicity with combinations of Thiovir and zidovudine (AZT) in a series of in vitro tests serving as models for human immunodeficiency virus infection.

Thiovir is a broad spectrum antiviral and oral prodrug for foscarnet, a drug approved to treat opportunistic infections in HIV/AIDS patients, according to a company news release.

Thiovir is being developed as a reverse transcriptase inhibitor to be used as a component of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) for HIV/AIDS and as a potential antiviral therapy for avian flu, officials said.

The results were from in vitro tests that revealed various combinations of Thiovir and zidovudine showed strong synergistic antiviral activity.

This antiviral synergy between Thiovir and zidovudine was significantly more pronounced than antiviral activity of combinations of foscarnet and zidovudine, which were found to be only slightly synergistic to antagonistic, officials said.

Furthermore, combinations of Thiovir and zidovudine showed less cytotoxicity than combinations of foscarnet and zidovudine, suggesting a safer toxicity profile of the Thiovir and zidovudine combination, officials said.

Together, these results imply that Thiovir and zidovudine would be compatible as part of an antiviral therapy, officials said.

This data were presented March 31 at the HIV Pathogenesis Meeting in Keystone, Colo., officials added.

"The strong antiviral activity demonstrated by combinations of Thiovir and zidovudine is intriguing since it suggests that lower dosages of each drug may be required when they are administered together to achieve a level of viral inhibition," Joan M. Robbins, chief scientific officer and executive vice president, said in the release.

The company said it plans to file an Investigational New Drug application with the Food and Drug Administration in the first half of 2006 in order to conduct a phase 1/2 clinical trial using Thiovir to treat HIV/AIDS.

The company said it also is investigating Thiovir as a potential treatment for avian influenza and is exploring international regulatory strategies. The company recently announced that Thiovir was active against an H5N1 hybrid influenza strain.

Thiovir is a broad spectrum antiviral drug that has been shown in preclinical tests to inhibit HIV, influenza A and herpes viruses.

Adventrx is a San Diego biopharmaceutical research and development company focused on introducing new technologies for anticancer and antiviral treatments that surpass performance and safety of existing drugs by addressing problems such as drug metabolism, toxicity, bioavailability and resistance.

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