A widely used herpes drug also seems to
help people with the HIV virus, even if those people don’t also have
herpes, a new small study found.
The researchers said their findings
challenge the belief that drug Valtrex (valacyclovir) requires the
presence of herpes to benefit people with HIV-1. HIV is the virus that
causes AIDS.
The study included 18 HIV patients in
Peru. When patients took Valtrex twice daily for two weeks,
they had
decreases in HIV-1 levels. Patients taking a placebo saw their HIV
levels go up.
Experts thought that Valtrex worked against HIV by reducing inflammation caused by the herpes virus.
This would give the HIV virus fewer active immune cells to attack, reducing the spread of the virus.
But the drug doesn’t depend on reducing
inflammation to work against HIV, said study co-senior author Dr.
Michael Lederman, a professor of medicine at Case Western Reserve
University School of Medicine in Cleveland.
This means that Valtrex can be used in a
broader range of people with HIV-1, and also suggests promising new
directions for creating new HIV drugs, the researchers said.
That’s especially important because some forms of HIV-1 have become resistant to existing drugs.
“The drug might be an agent that can be
used safely in some people with HIV infection who have a form of HIV
that is highly resistant to other antiretroviral drugs,” Lederman said
in a university news release.
“Valacyclovir might well augment the cocktail of medications they take for reducing HIV replication.
Valacyclovir is a well-tolerated drug, and it doesn’t have a lot of side effects,” he added.
The findings were published online in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.
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