Zidovudine 30516-87-1

History

Development

In the 1950s the theory that most cancers were caused by environmental retroviruses gained currency. It had long been known that most avian cancers were caused by retroviruses, but this knowledge was of limited use in clinical settings due to a lack of drugs that were effective against them. The development of the first anti-retroviral drugs in the 1950s and 60s led to increasing efforts to isolate the expected human analogs of these avian viruses, and then develop suitable drugs to kill them and produce a universal cure for cancer. These efforts eventually culminated in the "War on Cancer" in the 1970s. AZT was originally studied as one of many attempts to block the action of these oncoviruses. Jerome Horwitz of the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute and Wayne State University School of Medicine first synthesized AZT in 1964 under a US National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant. Development was shelved after it proved insufficiently effective against tumors in mice. In 1974, Wolfram Ostertag of the Max Planck Institute in Germany reported that AZT was active against Friend murine leukaemia virus, a retrovirus, in a mouse culture system. The anti-retroviral approach to develop a "silver bullet" cancer cure ultimately failed. Contrary to early belief, today it is estimated that viruses account for only 10 to 20% of human cancers. However, these efforts advanced the knowledge of cancer considerably, and led to rapid development of many anti-retroviral drugs, which would later prove useful. Zidovudine (AZT) was approved for marketing by the FDA on March 20, 1987.

HIV

In 1984, shortly after the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) had been confirmed as the cause of AIDS, scientists at the Burroughs-Wellcome Company (now GlaxoSmithKline) began searching for compounds to treat the disease. Burroughs-Wellcome had expertise in viral diseases, led by researchers including Gertrude Elion, David Barry, Phil Furman, Marty St. Clair, Janet Rideout, Sandi Lehman and others. Their research efforts focused on the viral enzyme reverse transcriptase. Reverse transcriptase is an enzyme that retroviruses, including HIV, utilize to replicate themselves. Scientists at Burroughs-Wellcome began to identify and synthesize compounds and developed a screen to test for activity against murine (mouse) retroviruses. One compound, coded "BW A509U", was tested and demonstrated potent activity against mouse viruses. At the same time, Samuel Broder, Hiroaki Mitsuya, and Robert Yarchoan of the United States National Cancer Institute (NCI) had initiated an independent program to develop therapies for HIV/AIDS. The Burroughs-Wellcome scientists were not working directly with HIV, so the two groups began a collaboration. In February 1985, the NCI scientists showed that BW A509U, one of 11 compounds sent to them by Burroughs-Wellcome, had potent activity against HIV in the test tube. Several months later, Broder, Mitsuya, and Yarchoan started the initial phase 1 clinical trial of AZT at the NCI, in collaboration with scientists from Burroughs-Wellcome and Duke University. This trial suggested that the drug could be safely administered to patients with HIV and that it could increase CD4 counts in HIV-infected patients. A placebo-controlled randomized trial of AZT was subsequently conducted by Burroughs-Wellcome. The study found that AZT could prolong the life of patients with AIDS. Burroughs-Wellcome filed for a patent for AZT in 1985. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the drug (via the then-new FDA accelerated approval system) for use against HIV, AIDS, and AIDS Related Complex (ARC, a now-defunct medical term for pre-AIDS illness) on March 20, 1987. As a solid, AZT forms a hydrogen bonded network of base-paired dimers; its crystal structure was reported in 1988.

Prophylaxis

AZT may be used in combination with other antiretroviral medications to substantially reduce the risk of HIV infection following a significant exposure to the virus (such as a needle-stick injury involving blood or body fluids from an individual known to be infected with HIV). AZT is also recommended as part of a regimen to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV during pregnancy, labor, and delivery. With no treatment, approximately 25% of infants whose mothers are infected with HIV will become infected. AZT has been shown to reduce this risk to approximately 8% when given in a three-part regimen during pregnancy, delivery and to the infant for 6 weeks after birth. During the period from 1994 to 1999 when this was the primary form of prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission, AZT prophylaxis prevented more than 1000 infant HIV infections. Use of appropriate combinations of antiretroviral medications, cesarean section and avoidance of breast feeding can further reduce mother-child transmission of HIV to 1–2%.

Side effects

Common side effects of AZT include nausea, headache, changes in body fat, and discoloration of fingernails and toenails. More severe side effects include anemia and bone marrow suppression, which can be overcome using erythropoietin or darbepoetin treatments. These unwanted side effects might be caused by the sensitivity of the γ-DNA polymerase in the cell mitochondria. Drugs that inhibit hepatic glucuronidation, such as indomethacin, acetylsalicylic acid (Aspirin) and trimethoprim, decrease the elimination rate and increase the toxicity.

Viral resistance

AZT does not destroy the HIV infection, but only delays the progression of the disease and the replication of virus, even at very high doses. During prolonged AZT treatment, HIV has the ability to gain an increased resistance to AZT by mutation of its reverse transcriptase. To slow the development of resistance, physicians generally recommend that AZT be given in combination with another reverse transcriptase inhibitor and an antiretroviral from another group, such as a protease inhibitor or a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor, this type of therapy is known as HAART (Highly Active Anti Retroviral Therapy). AZT has been shown to work additively or synergistically with many antiviral agents such as acyclovir and interferon; however, ribavirin decreases the antiviral effect of AZT.

Mode of action

Like other reverse transcriptase inhibitors, AZT works by inhibiting the action of reverse transcriptase, the enzyme that HIV uses to make a DNA copy of its RNA. Reverse transcription is necessary for production of the viral double-stranded DNA, which is subsequently integrated into the genetic material of the infected cell (where it is called a provirus). but is far more effective at inhibiting reverse transcriptase than it is at inhibiting DNA polymerase alpha making it much better at inhibiting HIV replication than interfering with human cell division. In 2002, another lawsuit was filed over the patent by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. However, the patent expired in 2005 (placing AZT in the public domain), allowing other drug companies to manufacture and market generic AZT without having to pay GlaxoSmithKline any royalties. The U. S. FDA has since approved four generic forms of AZT for sale in the U. S.