Word: ibalizumab
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...flew to Houston, where he was given a briefing on a new agent called ibalizumab, an antibody that appeared able to block HIV's entry into healthy cells. In the 200 or so HIV-positive patients tested in the early trial, the compound was effective, but Tanox was worried about resistance. No matter how promising ARV drugs were, HIV inevitably found a way to evade them. So while the agent seemed to reduce the burden of virus in the blood up to 90% in patients with full-blown AIDS, no one knew how long the viral standoff would last...
Looking at the numbers, Ho saw more than just another member of the growing arsenal of ARV cocktails. Each of the ARVs focuses on thwarting just one of several different steps in HIV's infection process. Ibalizumab works at the critical juncture where the virus meets a healthy CD4 cell - a critical component of the immune system - essentially interposing itself between the two and preventing infection. If ibalizumab was so good at tamping down HIV in AIDS patients who were already infected, then maybe it could be tweaked to prevent AIDS in the first place. In other words, maybe...
...didn't even wait to leave the meeting before phoning his lab with instructions to investigate the literature on ibalizumab. "He was so excited about it," says Yaoxing Huang, who received the call and is now one of the two researchers Ho has diverted to investigating the compound. Barely three years later, that initial enthusiasm has only grown, spreading throughout the labs that occupy two floors at ADARC's Lower East Side facility...