Important note: Information in this article was accurate in April 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.AIDSWEEKLY Plus; Monday, April 2, 2001
Michael Greer, Staff Medical Writer
R.M. Gulick and colleagues described the results of their clinical trial in the Journal of Infectious Diseases. Patients treated with this regimen had an excellent chance of achieving pronounced reduction in viral loads with robust immune recovery, they found.
Almost six out of 10 patients (59%) who were administered the four-drug regimen had less than 500 copies of viral RNA per milliliter of blood after 48 weeks of treatment, according to Gulick et al.
These patients also demonstrated a significant increase in the number of CD4 cells, also known as "helper T" cells, which are responsible for jump-starting the immune system in the face of pathogenic invasion. Study data showed that the amount of these cells rose by more than 90 cells/mm3 in treated patients.
Patients who were previously treated with amprenavir alone were significantly more likely to realize benefit from this regimen compared to patients treated with amprenavir in combination with other drugs ("Indinavir, nevirapine, stavudine, and lamivudine for human immunodeficiency virus-infected, amprenavir- experienced subjects: AIDS Clinical Trials Group protocol 373," J Infect Dis 2001 Mar 1;183(5):715-21.
"In this study, most subjects who had taken amprenavir-based regimens and who changed to a four-drug regimen achieved subsequent durable virologic suppression," Gulick and colleagues concluded.
The corresponding author for this report is R.M. Gulick, Cornell University, Weill Medical College, Cornell Clinical Trials Unit, Box 566, 525 East 68th Street, New York, NY 10021 USA.
A search at www.NewsRx.net using the term "AIDS and HIV therapy" yielded over 1,080 articles in five specialized reports.
Key points reported in this study include:
This article was prepared by AIDS Weekly editors from staff and other reports.
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