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Aerosolized Cidofovir Is Retained in the Respiratory Tract and Protects Mice against Intranasal Cowpox Virus Challenge

Department of Aerobiology and Product Evaluation,¹ Department of Viral Therapeutics, U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, Fort Detrick, Maryland 21702,² Stillmeadow Corp., Sugarland, Texas 77478,³ Biodefense Clinical Research Branch, Office of Clinical Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892⁴

Received 19 February 2003/ Returned for modification 22 May 2003/ Accepted 27 June 2003

We employed a murine model to test the concept of using an aerosolized, long-acting antiviral drug to protect humans against smallpox. We previously showed that a low dose of aerosolized cidofovir (HPMPC [Vistide]) was highly protective against subsequent aerosolized cowpox virus challenge and was more effective than a much larger dose of drug given by injection, suggesting that aerosolized cidofovir is retained in the lung. Because the nephrotoxicity of cidofovir is a major concern in therapy, delivering the drug directly to the respiratory tract might be an effective prophylactic strategy that maximizes the tissue concentration at the site of initial viral replication, while minimizing its accumulation in the kidneys. In the present study, we found that treating mice with aerosolized ¹⁴C-labeled cidofovir (¹⁴C-cidofovir) resulted in the prolonged retention of radiolabeled drug in the lungs at levels greatly exceeding those in the kidneys. In contrast, subcutaneous injection produced much higher concentrations of ¹⁴C-cidofovir in the kidneys than in the lungs over the 96-h time course of the study. As further evidence of the protective efficacy of aerosolized cidofovir, we found that aerosol treatment before or after infection was highly protective in mice challenged intranasally with cowpox virus. All or nearly all mice that were treated once by aerosol, from 2 days before to 2 days after challenge, survived intranasal infection, whereas all placebo-treated animals died.

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