News Release
For Immediate Release
Two new medicines to fight drug-resistant HIV
Auckland, New Zealand
8 November 2010
People with drug-resistant strains of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) now have two new medicines available to combat
the disease.
Pharmaceutical management agency Pharmac will fund Janssen New Zealand anti-HIV medications Intelence (etravirine) and
Prezista (darunavir) from 1 November.
These two new drugs are additions to the range of Government-funded HIV treatments which can be used to treat the
disease if resistance develops to other anti-viral drugs.
Intelence is a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) that works for patients with infections due to an
HIV strain that is resistant to the other NNRTIs. Intelence is the first new NNRTI to be introduced in over 10 years.
Prezista is a new protease inhibitor with a high genetic barrier to resistance – in other words a number of mutations in
the virus are needed before resistance to this drug can develop.
Dr Mark Thomas, an Infectious Disease Consultant at Auckland City Hospital, says NNRTIs have been trusted by physicians
and used in antiretroviral therapy for more than a decade, but the evolution of NNRTI-resistance has limited the use of
this important class of HIV medications for some patients.
“Intelence extends the NNRTI class to patients who have NNRTI-resistant virus, with the potential to suppress their
virus to undetectable levels – a major treatment goal,” he said.
“Pharmac’s funding approval offers new options for people with HIV infection. In two randomised trials involving nearly
1,300 patients, patients taking Prezista were less likely to experience virological failure – and have their HIV virus
multiply despite treatment – than patients taking another protease inhibitor.”
Mr Bruce Kilmister from HIV patient advocacy group Body Positive said, “This is really good news for New Zealanders who
are suffering debilitating toxicities from their older treatment regimens. Treatments including Intelence and Prezista
are generally well tolerated resulting in durable suppression of HIV and improved health.”
Mr Kilmister thanked Janssen New Zealand for making these medicines freely available to New Zealand patients who needed
them for over two years while the Pharmac funding application was in process.
ENDS