Promising long-term data for Boehringer's Aptivus

German drugmaker Boehringer Ingelheim presented encouraging new data at the 8th International Congress on Drug Therapy in HIV Infection, held in Glasgow, Scotland, showing that its drug Aptivus (tipranavir), used with ritonavir as part of a combined antiretroviral regimen (tipranavir/r), continued to provide a superior and durable treatment response in highly treatment-experienced patients versus a comparator group of protease inhibitors (p<0.001). Further, a sub-analysis shows that tipranavir/r scored higher in quality of life measures compared to other protease inhibitors. The privately-held firm noted that, at 96 weeks, tipranavir/r continues to outperform the comparator, with more than twice the percentage of those on tipranavir/r responding to treatment: 26.9% vs 10.9% so far achieved a viral load below 400 copies/mL (p<0.001).