HIV integrase structure understood
This article was originally published in Scrip
Executive Summary
In 2007, the US FDA approved Merck's first-in-class Isentress (raltegravir), an HIV-1 integrase inhibitor that has since become a first-line treatment component. A team of international academia-based scientists has now solved the crystal structure of a retroviral integrase enzyme – which had remained elusive during the development of Isentress. Yet while some drug developers say that this structure will facilitate the next generation of resistance resistant integrase inhibitors, others say these are already in the pipeline.