Researchers find better HIV medication

An international team of AIDS researchers has found a more efficient cocktail therapy for treating HIV infection, said a report to be published Thursday on the New England Journal of Medicine.

As an initial treatment, the once-daily combination of antiretroviral tenofovir DF (Viread), emtricitabine (Emtriva), and efavirenz (Sustiva), works better than another widely used three-drug regimen in suppressing levels of the virus, the researchers reported.

The therapy was compared to the combination of zidovudine, lamivudine (AZT and 3TC, or Combivir), and efavirenz. One-year use of the therapy has also led to less side effects such as anemia, fatigue and nausea in patients, said the researchers.

The regimen became even simpler in 2004, when tenofovir and emtricitabine, approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2001 and 2003 respectively, could be available in a single pill, called Truvada, lead author Joel Gallant, associate director of the AIDS Service at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, reported.

Zidovudine, the first antiretroviral drug, approved in 1987, and lamivudine, approved in 1995, were in 1998 combined into a single pill called Combivir that should be taken twice a day.

A study expected to continue for another two years has already linked lipoatrophy, or fat loss, with the use of zidovudine-lamivudine in patients, said Gallant. Lipoatrophy is a known complication of some HIV medications that can lead to disfiguring changes in body shape.

Further fat loss in the study subjects would highlight the need for a shift to the tenofovir-emtricitabine regimen, Gallant noted. However, those patients with no problems on the zidovudine-lamivudine therapy may not have to change, he added.

Source: Xinhua