What is Enfuvirtide?
Enfuvirtide, also called Fuzeon or T-20, is a drug used for antiviral therapy. It is manufactured by Roche and Trimeris. Enfuvirtide was approved recently by the FDA, March 2003.Enfuvirtide is the first “fusion inhibitor” drug. When HIV infects a cell, it attaches to the outside of the cell. Then it “fuses” or joins itself with the cell. Enfuvirtide stops this process of fusion. This means that HIV cannot infect that cell. Fuzeon, a drug submitted by Roche and Trimeris to FDA for review in September,16, 2002 and grated a priority review (six months), is a very difficult drug to make, requiring 106 steps to produce the active substance. Fuzeon is a very expensive drug costing up to $20,000 a year. Fuzeon is targeted for patients with drug-resistant strands of the virus, and be used in combination with other drugs. Fuzeon is the first in a class known as fusion inhibitors, which are designed to block HIV from entering blood cells. It acts on the third stage of that entry process, known a
