CONFERENCE REPORTS 295 CHIMIA 1999. 53. NO.6 CONFERENCE REPORTS Chimia 53 (1999) 295-304 © Neue Schweizerische Chemische Gesellschaft ISSN 0009-4293 Second Swiss/German Meeting on Medicinal Chemistry Fruhjahrsversammlung 1999 der Neuen Schweizerischen Chemischen Gesellschaft (NSCG) 22./23. Marz 1999, Basel Vier Mini-Symposia uber Virologie, Multidrug Resistance, Immunologie und Gene Therapie Organisiert von der Sektion Medizinische Ghemie der NSGG, der Fachgruppe fUr Medizinische Chemie der GDGh und der Basler Chemischen Gesellschatt mit Unterstutzung der Pharmazeutischen Industrie. Report by the Research Team of G. Folkers' 'Correspondence: Prof. Dr. G. Folkers Department of Pharmacy Winterthurerstrasse 190 CH-8057Zi.irich E-Mail:
[email protected] Discovery of Indinavir and Efavirenz, New Therapeutic Agents for AIDS Terry A. Lyle, Merck Research Laboratories, West Point, PA, USA For the treatment of HIV infection, two enzymes are of major interest: The HIV-l Protease (PR) and the Reverse- Tran- scriptase (RT). The HIV -Protease, an aspartic-acid pro- tease active as a dimer, is responsible for H 0 the cleavage of polypeptides assembled at o N~' the cell membrane. The inhibition of the Y I( ; N 1\ 0 = H protease-mediated cleavage of the viral "0 o o o precursor polyproteins results in the pro- duction of noninfectious progeny viral par- ticles. The development of lndinavir start- ed with screening a collection of renin inhibitors. A seven-amino-acid analog 1 1 which contains the hydroxyethylene tran- CONFERENCE REPORTS 296 CHIMIA 1999, 53. No.6 prevents the spread of the virus. Different nucleoside inhibitors like AZT, ddI, ddC, d4T and 3TC are already known, but new QH non-nucleoside inhibitors (NNRTI) are U'O developed to decrease the cytotoxicity and N : to improve the selectivity of the viral polymerases vs.