Safety and Pharmacokinetics of Bevirimat (PA-457), a Novel Inhibitor of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Maturation, in Healthy Volunteers▿

Bevirimat (BVM; formerly known as PA-457) is a novel inhibitor of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) maturation that is being developed for the treatment of HIV infection. The pharmacokinetics of this agent in healthy male volunteers were studied in a randomized, double-blind study in which the participants received single oral doses of placebo (n = 8) or escalating doses of BVM at 25, 50, 100, or 250 mg (n = 6 per dose); escalation was performed only after the pharmacokinetics and safety of the preceding dose had been evaluated. Plasma was collected over 480 h after dosing and urine was collected over 48 h after dosing for determination of the values of pharmacokinetic parameters. BVM was well absorbed after oral administration, with peak plasma concentrations being achieved 1 to 3 h after dosing. The half-life was 60 to 80 h. The exposure assessed by determination of the peak concentration and the area under the concentration-time curve was dose proportional. Single oral doses of BVM were well tolerated: there were no dose-limiting toxicities, and no serious adverse events were reported. These findings suggest that that BVM offers a favorable pharmacokinetic profile, with predictable pharmacokinetics following the oral administration of single doses. The long half-life of BVM may facilitate once-daily dosing

Phase I and II Study of the Safety, Virologic Effect, and Pharmacokinetics/Pharmacodynamics of Single-Dose 3-O-(3′,3′-Dimethylsuccinyl)Betulinic Acid (Bevirimat) against Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection▿

Bevirimat [3-O-(3′,3′-dimethylsuccinyl)betulinic acid] is the first in a new class of anti-human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) drugs that inhibit viral maturation by specifically blocking cleavage of the Gag capsid (CA) precursor, CA-SP1, to mature CA protein, resulting in defective core condensation and release of immature noninfectious virions. Four cohorts of six HIV-infected adults, with CD4 counts of >200 and plasma viral loads of 5,000 to 250,000 transcripts/ml and not currently receiving antiretroviral therapy, were randomized to receive a single oral dose of placebo, 75, 150, or 250 mg of bevirimat. Thirty blood samples for drug concentrations and 20 HIV RNA measures were collected from each subject over a 20-day period. Candidate pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic models were fit to individual subjects by maximum likelihood followed by Bayesian estimation; model discrimination was by corrected Akaike's Information Criterion. The bevirimat pharmacokinetics was well described by an oral two-compartment linear model (r2, 0.98), with a mean (percent coefficient of variation) half-life of 60.3 (13.6) h and apparent oral clearance of bevirimat from the plasma compartment of 0.17 (18) liters/h. HIV RNA was modeled as being produced in infected CD4 cells, with bevirimat inhibiting infection of new CD4 cells thru a Hill-type function (r2, 0.87). Single oral doses of bevirimat were well tolerated and demonstrated a dose-dependent reduction in viral load. The average maximum reduction from baseline following the 150- and 250-mg doses was greater than 0.45 log10, with individual patients having reductions of greater than 0.7 log10. No bevirimat resistance mutations were detected during the course of the study