Press room ... 1999 archive

ABT-378 Expanded Access

September 10, 1999

San Francisco, CA—Abbott Laboratories, the developers of a new protease inhibitor ABT-378, will start a small “Early Access” program for the drug in September. This will be a very small program, allowing only 500–700 people in the U.S. and Europe early access to the drug. To qualify for the program, people must have all of the following:

Over 10,000 copies HIV RNA or a recent opportunistic infection within the past three months
Less than 50 CD4+ cells within the past three months
Intolerance to and/or failure (viral load increases) to at least two protease inhibitors

Unable to construct a viable combination without ABT-378
To register patients in the program, physicians should call 888-711-7193. In the U.S., the drug will be accessed through about 35 clinics, though people need not be receiving their medical care through those clinics to qualify for the program. For locations of these clinics, Project Inform’s National HIV/AIDS Treatment Hotline will have this information as soon as it is available.