Patent Granted for Antiretroviral drug Etravirine

United States Food & Drug Administration lately approved a new antiretroviral drug Etravirine chemically 4-[[6-amino-5-bromo-2-[(4-cyanophenyl) amino] -4-pyrimidinyl] oxy] -3, 5-dimethylbenzonitrile marketed by Tibotec Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson) under the brand name Intelence. Etravirine (clinically known as TMC125) is broadly covered within markush pyrimidine structure described in US Patent Nos. 6,878,717 (indication patent) and 7,037,917 (basic compound patent), and also granted an Indian Patent No. 204028 against the mail-box application no. IN/PCT/2001/00436/MUM filed on April 20, 2001 claiming early priority from US provisional application dated November 10, 1998. Etravirine was designed by Belgian scientists to reduce drug resistance, partly by making a flexible molecule that can fit in the active pocket of HIV’s reverse transcriptase in different ways, even when the shape of that pocket changes because of viral mutations that would defeat other drugs (read).