New HIV drug treatment accepted in Scotland

A new drug to combat HIV has been accepted for use within Scotland.

The Scottish Medicines Consortium announced that raltegravir has been accepted for restricted use, in combination with other antiretroviral treatments. It is restricted to patients with triple class resistant HIV infections, reports medical news today.

Raltegravir targets the integrase enzyme, which is one of three HIV enzymes required by the virus to replicate in the body.

Studies have shown that a 48 week treatment of raltegravir, together with optimised background therapy, had superior antiretroviral efficiency compared to other commonly used treatments.

Dr Clifford Leen, consultant physician at the Lothian University Hospitals NHS Trust, said that the announcement was extremely good news for people affected by HIV in Scotland.

"With HIV infection on the rise in Scotland, it is important that treatment-experienced patients have appropriate access to novel therapies such as raltegravir," added Dr Leen.

The most recent figures from Health Protection Scotland estimates that over 5,400 people in Scotland suffer from HIV.