Innovative drugs developer Samaritan Pharmaceuticals has reported that it is rapidly progressing with its phase II/III study of SP-01A, a new kind of pill that, Samaritan believes, blocks the AIDS virus before it ever enters the human cell.
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Four sites have been selected to conduct Samaritan’s trial for HIV-infected patients experiencing resistance to antiretroviral therapy. In addition, internal review boards responsible for protecting study patients have almost completed their reviews.
“When you think about who we are competing against to win, companies like Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Schering-Plough, and being headquartered in Vegas, it makes you feel as though we are playing Texas Hold-em against Big Pharma,” said Dr Janet Greeson, CEO of Samaritan. “Of course, we know we are the underdog but…who knows, maybe we will be the next million dollar baby.”
Samaritan believes SP-01A cripples HIV’s ability to enter cells by blocking the proteins on human T cells that would, otherwise, facilitate HIV’s entry into those cells.