LA JOLLA, Calif., April 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Agouron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
(Nasdaq-NNM: AGPH) reported that profound anti-HIV effects from its protease
inhibitor VIRACEPT(R) (nelfinavir mesylate), when taken in combination with
other anti-HIV drugs, continue to be observed after ten months of treatment.
VIRACEPT was recently cleared for marketing in the United States by the Food
and Drug Administration.
    At the Tenth International Conference on Anti-viral Research (ICAR)
meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, Agouron Senior Clinical Scientist Dr. Sharon
Chapman provided an update on results from a key clinical trial of VIRACEPT
taken in combination with AZT and 3TC.  After ten months of treatment, HIV
remained below the lower limit of sensitivity (1200 viral copies per mL) of
the assay (bDNA) in the plasma of 87% of 74 patients receiving the recommended
dose of VIRACEPT (750mg three times daily) in the three drug combination.
CD4+ T-cells continued to rise in these patients over the ten months of
treatment to a mean increase of 173 cells.  In a subgroup of
12 advanced patients who had pre-treatment CD4+ T-cell counts of 50 or below
and who received the recommended dose of VIRACEPT, mean reductions in plasma
HIV were 2.2 log10 (>99%) with HIV falling below the assay sensitivity limit
(1200 viral copies per mL) in 11 of 12 patients.
    In clinical studies of VIRACEPT, the most commonly observed adverse event
of moderate or greater severity was diarrhea which was generally controlled
with over-the-counter medications.
    Agouron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is an integrated pharmaceutical firm
committed to discovery, development, manufacture and marketing of small
molecule drugs engineered to inactivate proteins which play key roles in
cancer, AIDS, and other serious diseases.
    VIRACEPT is a registered trademark of Agouron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

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