Two researchers from the Institute of Cellular Physiology (IFC) of National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) obtained the patent for a novel chemical formulation that protects the liver of patients infected with HIV/AIDS. Rolando Hernández Muñoz and Armando Butanda Ochoa combined concentrations of Zidovudine (AZT), the most popular drug in the treatment of HIV/AIDS, with adenosine (ADO), a compound that protects the liver and helps it to regenerate.
For more than 30 years, Hernández has done experimental work in the laboratory, and has managed to identify that the ADO protects the liver against damage caused by cirrhosis and other liver diseases.
In a joint investigation, Hernández and Butanda combined concentrations of AZT and ADO, and demonstrated that their joint action may represent a therapeutic option that protects the liver of patients with HIV/AIDS from secondary medication damage with antiretrovirals in the long term.
In a media conference at the IFC, both researchers highlighted that the data obtained during their experimental work showed that this combination returns its regenerative capacity of the liver to normal levels.
The researchers filled for the patent “Pharmaceutical composition of adenosine and antiretrovirals for the treatment of liver damage”, before the Mexican Institute of Industrial Protection (IMPI), and now they seek to continue research in a protocol with human patients.
Against adverse side effects
Although antiretroviral medications such as AZT are efficient in treating HIV/AIDS, they have serious side effects. The damages produced by this drug alter the generation of energy, produce weakness, promote the accumulation of lipids that gives rise to the fatty liver and considerably reduce the capacity of regeneration of liver tissue.
However, when combined with ADO the regenerative capacity of the liver is favored and this organ is protected, as demonstrated in the laboratory.
“We suggest that we can make a pharmaceutical formulation by combining the treatment of antiretrovirals such as AZT, together with the ADO molecule, or a derivative thereof, to not only protect the liver, but to create a first adherence treatment for untreated patients,” detailed Hernandez.
At the current stage, the team of scientists need to start a protocol in human patients, for which they need the collaboration of a health institution. After the protocol stage, and testing these same results in humans, they would be ready for a technology transfer to a pharmaceutical company that is interested in marketing the drug.
Source: Agencia ID
