Inosine pranobex in the treatment of HIV infection: a review.

Inosine pranobex (InPx) could prove a valuable and innovative approach to the treatment of HIV-infected patients, since InPx administration has been shown in two multicenter trials to effectively delay the progression of HIV infection to overt AIDS. However, further studies are strongly required to optimize both the dosage of inosine pranobex and the administration schedules. Furthermore, clinical trials evaluating combination therapy of HIV infection with both InPx and zidovudine should ultimately provide an important advance in the management of HIV-infected patients. Our finding that concomitantly administered InPx to zidovudine-receiving patients increased the plasma levels of zidovudine as well as prolonged zidovudine mean half-life during InPx treatment suggests several potential advantages of the combination treatment with both InPx and zidovudine, such as a need for lower zidovudine dosage and a longer interval period between administering zidovudine to obtain sustained plasma levels as well as a potential to enhance residue immune function resulting from inosine pranobex treatment.