New study shows efavirenz effective with d4T and 3TC
A new study of Sustiva/efavirenz, a once-daily non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor, shows that Sustiva taken in combination with stavudine (d4T) and lamivudine (3TC) reduces viral load to below 400 copies/mL in 100% of patients observed.
Sustiva, manufactured by Wilmington, DE-based DuPont, also was studied in an ongoing 48-week, open-label multicenter trial. Three of 42 patients discontinued the therapy, and none of the discontinuations were related to adverse events, according to the study, which was presented in March at the 9th European Conference of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases in Berlin.
A second study showed that Sustiva combined with AZT/3TC or indinavir lowered viral load in both vaginal and cerebrospinal fluid to fewer than 400 copies/mL in two groups of patients. In one group, the viral load was suppressed in eight women’s genital tracts after 12 weeks of therapy. A second group of nine patients achieved the same results in their cerebrospinal fluid after 16 weeks of therapy.
Sustiva was granted approval by the Food and Drug Administration on Sept. 17, 1998. The drug also was approved March 23, 1999, by the Canadian Health Protection Branch for use in Canada.
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