Boehringer Ingelheim commences Phase IIa dose finding study with alovudine (MIV-310)

Boehringer Ingelheim commences Phase IIa dose finding study with alovudine (MIV-310) targeting multiresistant HIV A clinical trial with alovudine (MIV-310), an NRTI targeting multiresistant HIV has recently commenced. The trial is being conducted by Boehringer Ingelheim which licensed alovudine from Medivir in July 2003. The trial has been designed to evaluate short-term antiviral activity and safety in patients with HIV resistant to multiple members of the NRTI class of antiretrovirals. The trial is a dose finding study in patients infected with HIV resistant to multiple NRTIs and with measurable levels of virus in plasma; these will be treated with alovudine for one month. This treatment is in addition to pre-existing ongoing standard treatment regimes. There are more than 1.8 million of HIV/AIDS patients in the Western world of whom a considerable portion harbour drug resistant HIV. The number of patients with multiresistant HIV is increasing rapidly and prompting the need for new antiretrovirals that are effective in cases of drug resistant HIV. Current HIV therapy employs combinations of several antivirals from different classes with different resistance profiles. Alovudine has in vitro been found to inhibit HIV-1 strains that are resistant to other NRTI´s. Sales of NRTI´s only against HIV-1 amounted to ?2.6 billion during 2002. According to IMS the total annual sales for antiretroviral agents worldwide were ?4.8 billion in 2002 and are estimated to more than triple by the year 2016. - NRTIs to represent about 60%. Boehringer Ingelheim in brief The Boehringer Ingelheim Corporation is one of the world's 20 leading pharmaceutical companies. Headquartered in Ingelheim, Germany it operates globally with 152 affiliates in 45 countries and a total of about 34,000 employees. Since it was founded in 1885, the family-owned company has been committed to researching, manufacturing and marketing novel products of high therapeutic value for human and veterinary medicine. Boehringer Ingelheim is committed to the research and development of novel antiretroviral agents. Its NNRTI VIRAMUNE (nevirapine) researched and developed at Boehringer Ingelheim was the first member of(NNRTI class of anti-HIV drugs. Boehringer Ingelheim is committed to the rapid development of the investigational non-peptidic protease inhibitor (NPPI) tipranavir in phase III clinical trials and recently acquired the nucleoside analogue (NRTI) MIV-310 currently in phase II development. The company is involved in basic research and is committed to improving HIV therapy by providing physicians and patients with innovative antiretrovirals. Medivir in brief Medivir is an innovative, specialised research company that develops pharmaceuticals with the aim of becoming a sustainable and profitable pharmaceuticals company. The company is located in Huddinge, Sweden and Cambridge, UK. Medivir's research focuses on developing new pharmaceutical compounds based on polymerases and proteases as target enzymes. The Group comprises Medivir AB, its subsidiary Medivir UK Ltd. and Medivir Personal AB. At the end of 2003, the Group had 109 employees. In 1996, Medivir was listed on Stockholmsbörsen and since 1 July 2003, the company's shares are traded on the Attract40 segment of the O-list. The research portfolio includes projects in the area of HIV infection, hepatitis, shingles, cold sores, osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), asthma and multiple sclerosis (MS). Medivir has five individual projects in the clinical development phase, all with a unique clinical profile. The company's broad pre-clinical research portfolio includes five defined projects and some ten activities in different pre-clinical phases. For additional information, please see Medivir's website www.medivir.com Contact: Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH: Medivir: Julia Meyer-Kleinmann Rein Piir CFO/IR Corporate Division Communications Medivir Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH Phone: + 46 8 546 831 00 or 55216 Ingelheim/Germany + 46 708 53 72 92 Phone: + 49 - 6132 - 77 8271 Fax: + 49 - 6132 - 77 6601 ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net The following files are available for download: http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2004/04/20/20040419BIT00600/wkr0001.doc http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2004/04/20/20040419BIT00600/wkr0002.pdf