Panacos says pill version of HIV drug soon to be released

WATERTOWN, Mass. A biotech company said Tuesday that it had successfully developed a tablet version of its liquid HIV drug.

Panacos Pharmaceuticals said its study of a 100 mg tablet formulation of the drug bevirimat yielded positive results for bioavailability, which refers to a drug’s ability to enter circulation in the body. Panacos said bevirimat was the only novel-mechanism oral drug in late-stage development for HIV.

“Bevirimat has not been an easy product to formulate as a tablet,” Panacos president and chief executive officer Alan Dunton said in a statement. “We have been successful in developing a 100 mg bevirimat tablet that exceeds the bioavailability criteria we had identified to justify moving a tablet into future clinical development, particularly longer-term dosing in HIV patients.”