Study design.
This was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study in HIV-infected adults with a CD4 count greater than 200 cells/mm3 and plasma viral load between 5,000 and 250,000 copies/ml. Patients were either antiretroviral naïve or had not been receiving active therapy for a minimum of 4 weeks prior to enrollment in the study. Patients were otherwise required to be in good health, with normal renal and hepatic function. Genotyping for mutations associated with antiretroviral resistance was conducted at baseline and at the end of the study.
The primary objective of the study was to assess the antiretroviral activity of single oral doses of bevirimat in HIV-1-infected patients not receiving active therapy. The secondary objective was to characterize the safety and pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics of bevirimat.
Patients were randomly assigned to receive bevirimat (75, 150, or 250 mg) or placebo. Blood samples for determination of bevirimat concentrations were collected at 0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1, 1.5, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 18, 24, 36, and 48 h after oral dosing of bevirimat or placebo and on days 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, and 24. Plasma viral load (HIV RNA) was determined at screening, just prior to the dose of bevirimat, and at 6, 12, 18, 24, 36, and 48 h after dosing. Additional viral load samples were taken on days 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, and 24.
Determination of bevirimat plasma concentrations.
Bevirimat plasma concentrations were measured using reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography assays with tandem mass spectrometric detection over the calibration ranges of 20.0 to 16,000 ng/ml (75-mg dose) and 100 to 60,000 ng/ml (150- and 250-mg doses). For the lower concentration range, heparinized plasma samples (100 μl) were treated with 50 μl of internal standard (1.50-μg/ml solution of 2,2-dimethylsuccinyl-4-dihydrobetulinic acid ester [DSD] in acetonitrile with 0.1% acetic acid) followed by 450 μl of cold, acidified acetonitrile to precipitate plasma proteins. After digestion and vortexing, the samples were centrifuged at 4°C and 13,000 × g for 10 min. The supernatant (500 μl) was evaporated to dryness with nitrogen at 30°C and the residue reconstituted in 80% methanol in 0.1% acetic acid. Samples were maintained at 4°C in the autosampler, and a 30-μl aliquot was injected into the liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry system. For the higher concentration range, plasma samples (100 μl) were treated in a similar manner except that 10 μl of supernatant was directly injected without evaporation and reconstitution.
For both concentration ranges, prepared samples were chromatographed over a Luna C
18 (
2) high-performance liquid chromatography column (2.0 mm by 50 mm; 3.0-μm particles; part 00B-4251-B0; Phenomenex, Torrance, CA) maintained at 40°C using a mobile phase consisting of 83% methanol in 75 mM ammonium acetate buffer. The mobile-phase flow rate was 0.2 ml/min. The resulting retention times for bevirimat and DSD were approximately 5.0 and 6.5 min, respectively. Bevirimat and DSD were detected using a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer (model API 365; Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA), with multiple reaction monitoring (bevirimat, 583.3 to 455.2
m/z; DSD, 585.3 to 457.3
m/z).
Linearity was observed over both calibration curve ranges. The overall accuracy (percent analytical recovery) and precision (percent coefficient of variation [CV]) of the assay were determined from the plasma quality control samples that were analyzed during the analysis of the study samples. For the 20.0- to 16,000-ng/ml calibration range, the accuracy and precision were calculated as 97.7% (92.2 to 102%) and 6.78% (4.87 to 7.81%), respectively. For the 100- to 60,000-ng/ml calibration range, the accuracy and precision were calculated as 98.1% (93.0 to 104%) and 5.34% (3.92 to 7.92%), respectively. The quantitation limit of the assays was 20.0 ng/ml and 100 ng/ml, respectively, for the lower and upper curve ranges. Bevirimat has demonstrated stability in heparinized human plasma for 95 days when stored at −70°C (unpublished data).