New kind of antiretroviral, KP-1461; clinical trial recruiting. Interview with Stephen Becker, M.D.

KP-1461, an experimental HIV drug already in a phase II trial, works so differently from other antiretrovirals that at first glance it looked like science fiction, and we found it hard to take seriously as a current possibility today. In fact this drug is highly credible, and based on elegant science that goes back at least 25 years. KP-1461 is the only antiretroviral in human use or testing that can eradicate HIV from laboratory cell cultures. No one knows how it will work in people -- but we might know by the second quarter of 2008, when the current phase II trial could be complete. AIDS Treatment News interviewed Dr. Stephen Becker, a leading AIDS physician and researcher who is vice president of clinical development at Koronis Pharmaceuticals, in Seattle, Washington.