China approves albuvirtide: a once-weekly injectable entry inhibitor

Date: 
6/29/18


On 6 June 2018, without news from the US FDA, a press release from Frontier Biotech announced the approval of a new HIV drug in China that is given by once-weekly injection.

This is a rare example of an HIV treatment not being first approved in either the US or Europe.

Albuviride is an HIV fusion inhibitor that works at an early stage of the HIV lifecycle by blocking attachment to CD4 cells. It has a similar structure and mechanism to an earlier HIV fusion inhibitor called enfuvirtide (T-20, Fuzeon) that was developed for people who had run out of treatment options.