It is high time that India set the mission to fight against the terror of AIDS. If effective steps are not taken at the earliest, the day is not far when India would see AIDS bomb exploding on its face. Eminent scientist, Prof. Raymond Schinazi from USA said this while talking to Pharambiz.com in Kolhapur. He was here to attend the international symposium on drug discovery and process research organised by Shivaji University.

He urged the Indian government to wake up and do its best to control the spread of disease and the loss of human life. Schinazi said, "India would lose its productive manpower if proper treatment is not provided. Majority of the population suffering from the disease are in the prime age between 20 years to 40 years."

He opined that though India has resources to fight against the disease and provide treatment to the patients, it is not being utilized properly. `` It is unfortunate that major part of the anti HIV nucleosides are exported to other countries despite the fact that India is facing a massive threat of the disease.'' In India, Andhra- Pradesh is the highest producer of these nucleosides, exporting major chunk out of the country.

Schinazi with his team is currently working on the antiviral agents against HIV. Schinazi revealed that his team has developed a new antiviral agent called REVERSET. Said he, "The new anti-viral agent Reverset was studied in vitro and in humans and has shown a potential resistance to the HIV virus. The agent is still under phase II clinical study.''

Dwelling on the market of nucleosides Schinazi said,`` Presently there are 16 approved nucleosides in the market. There is a huge market potential for the nucleosides. The projected sales of nucleosides (anti-HIV) in the year 2005 is estimated to be around $5.6 billion.'' He further elaborated that in US, the patients living longer are expanding the market for nucleosides, which is around $2.75 billion.

Another eminent scientists working on anti-viral agent, Prof. C. K. Chu, talking to Pharmabiz.com said that in India and Thailand, it is seen that HIV is prevalent mainly in heterosexuals, unlike US and other developed countries. Echoing the words of Prof. Schinazi he also opined that India and Thailand are under a major threat of this deadly disease. Dwelling on his studies on antiviral agent Chu said, "As part of our discovery program for antiviral agents at The University of Georgia, we have been engaged in the drug design and synthesis of nucleoside antiviral agents for the past 20 years. We have discovered a number of interesting antiviral agents for HIV and hepatitis B virus (HBV), including DAPD (amdoxovir) L-FMAU (Clevudine).''

Prof. Chu said that despite the availability of potent antiviral agents against HIV, problems in toxicity, drug resistance and patient compliance necessitate additional drugs which are less toxic and more active against drug resistance mutants. "The DAPD agent in its phase I/II clinical studies suggest that it is well tolerated in patients with HIV positive and is active against the drug naïve as well as drug experienced patients. It is currently undergoing phase II studies'', disclosed Chu.

As part of their anti-viral program, Prof. Chu and his team has also discovered L-FMAU as potential anti-HBV agent. It is potent anti-HBV agent in vitro as well as in vivo. It has also demonstrated potent anti -HBV activity in phase I/II clinical trials, and is currently undergoing phase II clinical trials against chronically infected HBV patients. The market size for the anti - HBV nucleosides is estimated to be around more than $ 4.5 billion.