Subject: Early Studies Show Drugs Target Structures of HIV
Date: Published: 2/4/93 (26 lines)
Source: Wall Street Journal. Copyright Dow Jones & Co. Inc.

    Technology Brief -- Octamer Inc.:
    Early Studies Show Drugs
    Target Structures of HIV

    Closely held Octamer Inc., Tiburon, Calif., said test tube
 studies show its family of novel drugs can successfully target and
 break the "fingers" of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, loosening
 its infectious grip on cells of the human immune system.
    The drugs, known as c-nitroso compounds, target and break certain
 chemical structures on the virus known as zinc fingers, rendering
 the virus defective and unable to bind and infect cells of the human
 immune system.
    The drugs, which are also being developed for their potential as
 anticancer compounds, show little toxic effect on normal human
 cells.  The study, by Ernest Kun of Octamer and William G. Rice of
 the National Cancer Institute, is reported in the current issue of
 the British journal Nature.

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