Medicine Faculty Member Available to Discuss New AIDS Drug

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Statue of Jesse Mercer on the Mercer campus.

Dr. Jeffrey Stephens, associate professor of internal medicine at Mercer University School of Medicine, is available to discuss Fuzeon, a new anti-HIV drug approved March 13 by the Food and Drug Administration.

Stephens was involved in clinical trials of the medication, and served as principal investigator of a study in Macon.

“This medication works very differently than the cocktail of medications typically used to treat AIDS patients,” said Stephens. “The three medications that make up the AIDS cocktail only begin to work after HIV has entered the immune cells. Fuzeon blocks HIV before it ever gets inside immune cells.”

Stephens says patients will continue to take the traditional cocktail, but that Fuzeon may be particularly helpful for patients with drug-resistant HIV.

Clinical trials also showed that Fuzeon recipients experienced a significantly greater boost in critical immune cells called CD4 cells.


To schedule an interview with Dr. Stephens, please call Roban Johnson at (478) 301-2716 or (478) 737-6695.


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