Briefing Note - raltegravir (Isentress)

SMC has accepted raltegravir in combination with other medicines for restricted use as treatment for HIV in adults already being treated but in whom the disease continues to develop.

• The human immunodeficiency virus, better known as HIV, is a virus which attacks the body’s immune system. The immune system is the body’s natural defence against disease and infection.
• There is no cure for HIV, so treatment involves slowing progression of the virus to help prolong life. Treatment involves a combination of medicines because the HIV virus can adapt quickly to stop one single medicine working. Raltegravir is a new type of anti-HIV medicine known as an integrase inhibitor. It works by blocking a chemical (the enzyme called integrase) that the virus needs to spread.
• Studies have shown that, in patients given raltegravir plus the combination of drugs most likely to work for them, the amount of HIV in the blood had reduced more than in patients given placebo (a dummy treatment that does not contain an active drug) plus the same combination of drugs.
• Information is not yet available about the long-term safety of raltegravir and there were no studies comparing the side effects of raltegravir with those of other anti-HIV drugs in patients already being treated.
• SMC accepted raltegravir in combination with other medicines to treat adults with HIV in whom HIV continues to develop despite therapy. It is restricted to use in patients infected with virus that has become resistant to three types of anti-HIV medicine. Raltegravir is expected to offer good value for money in these patients.