FRIDAY, Aug. 1 (HealthDay News) -- Once-daily treatment with
tazanavir/ritonavir (A/R) is as effective as twice-daily treatment
with lopinavir/ritonavir (L/R) in HIV patients who are starting
antiretroviral treatment for the first time, a European study
shows.
Based on their findings, the researchers recommended once-daily
A/R as a first-line treatment option for treatment-naive HIV
patients since it has a number of advantages over the currently
recommended twice-daily L/R.
The study included 883 treatment-naive HIV patients who were
randomly assigned to receive A/R 300/100 milligrams once daily (440
patients) or L/R 400/100 milligrams twice daily (443 patients).
Both regimens were in combination with tenofovir/emtricitabine
300/200 once daily, as is standard.
After 48 weeks of treatment, 78 percent of patients receiving
A/R and 76 percent of those receiving L/R had a viral load of less
than 50 copies per milliliters in their blood, and both groups
showed similar increases in the numbers of immune system CD4 cells.
Six percent of patients in both groups failed on the treatments,
and two patients in the A/R group developed resistance mutations to
treatment, compared with none in the L/R group.
Serious side effects were reported in 12 percent of the A/R
patients and 10 percent of the L/R patients, but fewer A/R patients
experienced treatment-related diarrhea (2 percent vs. 11 percent)
and nausea (4 percent vs. 8 percent). None of the L/R patients
developed jaundice, which occurred in 4 percent of A/R
patients.
"In treatment-nave patients, atazanavir/ritonavir once-daily demonstrated similar antiviral efficacy to lopinavir/ritonavir twice daily, with less gastrointestinal toxicity but with a higher rate of hyperbilirubinaemia...the results of this study support the use of once-daily atazanavir/ritonavir as a recommended first-line treatment option, with a number of patient benefits over the currently recommended ritonavir-boosted twice-daily lopinavir for the treatment of HIV-infected antiretroviral-naive patients," the researchers concluded.
The study appears online in
The Lancet, and was expected to be published in an upcoming print edition of the journal.
More information
The American Academy of Family Physicians has more about
HIV medicines.
