Scientists Discover a Drug That Can Keep HIV Virus Below Detectable Level

REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha

A nurse tests a blood sample during a free HIV test at a blood tests party, part of a campaign to prevent HIV infection among male same-sex couples, in Bangkok September 20, 2014.

Researchers have developed a new drug compound that may inhibit the HIV virus from affecting healthy cells when combined with antiretroviral medications.

Scientists at the Scripps Research Institute in Florida announced earlier this week that the newly developed drug compound, called didehydro-Cortistatin A (dCA), may prevent the HIV from spreading as it inhibits the proliferation of the virus through its “block and lock” method.

According to Dr. Susana Valente, lead author of the research, the HIV virus in mice that have been injected with dCA stayed below the detectable level more than twice as compared to those that took antiretroviral medications only. This, according to Valente, is an indication that the dCA has lasting effects.

“This shuts the virus down very, very strongly, even stronger than what is happening during antiretroviral therapy,” Valente said.

However, taking dCA alone will not do the trick, as it is important to take antiretrovirals for the dCA to work. After all, it is the antiretroviral medications that keep the HIV virus below the detectable level, and dCA only prevents the infected cells from reactivating and replicating themselves.

Apart from preventing the HIV cells from reactivating and replicating, the dCA also locks the virus in a dormant condition for as long as 19 days, or almost two weeks longer than those mice that were given antiretroviral medications only.

While the effects of dCA on humans are yet to be established, it is speculated that it will still require HIV patients to take their antiretrovirals in the event that it works, just like in mice. However, it may mean that an HIV-patient may have to lessen his intake of his antiretroviral medications. 

As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced last month that HIV is no longer transmissible once the virus is below the detectable level, the combination of antiretrovirals and dCA will inhibit the spread of the virus to the uninfected partners of HIV patients.