Pharmacia & Upjohn sells off its anti-HIV drugs

Keith Alcorn
Estimated reading time 1 minutes
This article is more than 24 years old.

One of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies, Pharmacia & Upjohn, has sold the marketing rights to its anti-HIV portfolio just months after re-affirming its commitment to HIV drug development.

Agouron/Warner Lambert announced earlier this week that it had acquired the worldwide marketing rights to delavirdine (Rescriptor)from Pharmacia & Upjohn, which has had a troubled history since its discovery by the then Upjohn company in the late 1980s. Delavirdine was refused a license on the first attempt by both US and European licensing authorities, and has lagged behind the other non-nucleoside drugs (nevirapine and efavirenz) in sales.

Dr Graeme Moyle of the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital pointed that the deal is likely to assist the development and marketing of Agouron's own NNRTI, AG 1549. "Dosing AG 1549 with delavirdine may allow Agouron to develop the first once a day NNRTI combination" he said. "Currently, PK data on AG 1549 doesn't look promising for once daily use, but delavirdine should slow its metabolism and so sustain drug levels."

Glossary

protease inhibitor (PI)

Family of antiretrovirals which target the protease enzyme. Includes amprenavir, indinavir, lopinavir, ritonavir, saquinavir, nelfinavir, and atazanavir.

nucleoside

A precursor to a building block of DNA or RNA. Nucleosides must be chemically changed into nucleotides before they can be used to make DNA or RNA. 

metabolism

The physical and chemical reactions that produce energy for the body. Metabolism also refers to the breakdown of drugs or other substances within the body, which may occur during digestion or elimination.

investigational

In medicine, a drug that is approved by the regulatory authorities (Food and Drug Administration, European Medicines Agency) for testing in clinical trials, but not yet approved for commercial marketing and sale. Also called experimental drug, investigational agent, and investigational new drug (IND).

pharmacokinetics (PK)

How drugs are processed and used in the body, including how they are absorbed, metabolised, distributed and eliminated.

Pharmacia's investigational protease inhibitor, tipranavir, is also up for sale. Abbott Laboratories is understood to be negotiating for rights to the drug, but the company refused to comment. Tipranavir will be an attractive option for people who have failed several protease inhibitors if human trials bear out test tube data suggesting that tipranavir is active against multi-PI resistant viruses.

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