Ever wondered …

  • how a drug is discovered?
  • how much research ends in failures before one drug is discovered?
  • how much money is spent in bringing a drug to market?

BBC reporter Peter Day followed research and development of a HIV/AIDS drug for several years to make this story. This drug, Maraviroc, a CCR5 inhibitor, is very close to being approved for use. It was discovered that people with a mutated form of CCR5 don’t get infected with HIV and develop AIDS. That led to an idea to target this chemokine receptor for HIV therapy. It is a very interesting story.

Quest for a cure is being presented in 3 parts, each 30 minutes long. Here is a link to the first episode that was brodcasted last Monday. This post will be updated to include links to the future audio programs.