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Biotech / Medical : Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Miljenko Zuanic who wrote (440)	10/10/2000 7:40:15 PM
From: Miljenko Zuanic	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1169

Abacavir Plus Amprenavir Effective for Adults in Early Stage of HIV-1 Infection -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WESTPORT, CT (Reuters Health) Oct 10 - The combination of abacavir and amprenavir is effective in suppressing HIV-1 virus replication and rapidly normalizing CD4 T-cell counts when the therapy is initiated at an early stage of established infection, researchers report in the October issue of AIDS. Dr. Giuseppe Pantaleo, of the University of Lausanne in Switzerland, and a multicenter team conducted an open-label, observational, non-randomized prospective trial of this new regimen for highly active antiretroviral therapy. The 41 participants were antiretroviral-naive HIV-1 infected adults with 400 CD4 T cells/microliter or greater and 5000 plasma HIV-1-RNA copies/mL or greater. Controls were 49 HIV-negative individuals. Patients received 300 mg of abacavir by mouth every 12 hours and 1200 mg of amprenavir by mouth every 12 hours for 72 weeks. The extent of immune reconstitution after 72 weeks was measured in the blood and lymph nodes and compared with immunological measures in the control group. The researchers found that "virus replication was effectively suppressed (-3.5 log10 at week 72)." The CD4 T-cell count in blood and percentage in lymph nodes "were comparable to HIV-negative subjects by week 24 in blood and by week 48 in lymph nodes," with the increase equally distributed between naive and memory CD4 T cells. The research team found that HIV-specific CD4 responses occurred in 40% of patients. "We were also pleased to find that triglyceride and cholesterol levels were still good at 72 weeks, " Dr. Pantaleo told Reuters Health. "The most important finding of this study is that this two-drug combination is as effective as two nucleoside analogues plus a protease inhibitor in patients naive to HIV therapy," Dr. Pantaleo said. AIDS 2000;14:887-1897.