The end of the road for herpes treatment

Development of resiquimod, a potential new treatment for genital herpes, has been halted in the light of disappointing results in clinical trials.

Pharmaceutical companies Lilly and 3M originally announced their intention to collaborate on the development of resiquimod in September 2001. The compound is one of a new family of immune response modifiers, drugs which aim to stimulate the immune system to fight viral infection. Resiquimod had shown promising results in initial trials and was hailed by some experts as a potential breakthrough treatment for herpes.

Unfortunately, in more advanced trials, resiquimod failed to produce sufficiently positive results. In a statement issued earlier this year, the two companies announced that they were temporarily suspending trials to enable them to fully evaluate the date and to decide whether further studies should be carried out. However, in October 2003, they stated that development work was to be halted permanently, apparently signalling the end of the road for resiquimod as a potential treatment for genital herpes.

Sources
Star Tribune, 2 October 2003
3M press release, 25 September 2001