Roger-Luc Chayer
A Montreal-based pharmaceutical company is revolutionizing the world of HIV research by innovating and creating new drugs for HIV and its associated conditions, which are approved in the United States and partially in Canada. It will not be long, however, if we rely on the research of Thera Technologies, based in downtown Montreal.
The first drug available and approved by Health Canada is Egrifta, registered for the treatment of excess abdominal fat in people with HIV. We often talk about the physical and moral ravages of lipodystrophy, which sometimes results from the use of certain drugs against HIV, now Egrifta comes to help considerably people with this very unpleasant condition.
According to the CATIE Network, tesamorelin (Egrifta) is a small molecule that stimulates the brain to produce growth hormone. This hormone helps to reduce the volume of abdominal fat in some HIV-positive people. Tesamorelin has no effect on the fat layer just below the skin (subcutaneous fat) of the face or other parts of the body. Tesamorelin is injected under the skin once a day. In clinical trials, participants who initially lost abdominal fat as a result of tesamorelin experienced a return of this fat after discontinuing the medication. The fat that accumulates in the depths of the belly is called visceral fat. In general, in adults, as the volume of abdominal fat increases, the production of growth hormones decreases.
Studies in the 1980s and into the mid-1990s suggested that some HIV-positive adults produced suboptimal amounts of growth hormone. This reduced production of growth hormone resulted in changes in body composition, an accumulation of abdominal fat and a loss of lean tissue (muscle).
Tesamorelin is a small molecule (it is a peptide). This medicine stimulates the pituitary gland, a gland located in the brain, to release growth hormone. Increased growth hormone production can cause excess abdominal fat to decrease. In clinical trials, tesamorelin was very well tolerated.
The arrival of such a molecule that acts in a completely innovative way without any noticeable side effects is a revolution for HIV-positive people because, as we know, physical appearance is an important aspect of the lives of homosexual men. healthy air, even under triple therapy, often makes the difference in the socialization of people with the disease.
Thera Technologies has just received approval from the US authorities for another drug, Trogarzo, which also treats HIV, but in a new way in the form of a biweekly injection. It does not interact with other drugs and does not develop cross-resistance. It is effective in people who do not respond well to conventional therapies. It is hoped that Health Canada will quickly approve this new alternative. Bravo Thera technologies!