New drugs and more effective treatment regimens for HIV featured at IAS 2019 | Virus World | Scoop.it
From mailchi.mp - July 24, 2019 5:45 PM

 New evidence released today at the 10th IAS Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2019) highlights important advancements in antiretroviral therapy, including new and more efficient regimens with the potential to change the treatment landscape.
 
“New drugs and novel treatment regimens have the potential to improve long-term tolerability and reduce costs and pill sizes,” IAS President and IAS 2019 International Scientific Chair Anton Pozniak said.

 

Moving from three- to two-drug regimens 
Two studies presented the safety and efficacy of dolutegravir (DTG) plus lamivudine (3TC) in two-drug therapy: for people starting treatment for the first time; and for people who switch after being virally suppressed on another regimen. The new analysis includes 96 weeks of data. It finds that the two-drug regimen remains non-inferior to the three-drug regimen over this two-year period.

 

A new HIV treatment drug
 IAS 2019 also featured promising data on MK-8591, the first drug in a new class of treatments known as nucleoside transcriptase translocation inhibitors (NRTTIs). The authors presented 48-week data from a Phase 2B, randomized trial in which MK-8591 was used as part of first-line therapy. After 48 weeks of treatment, rates of viral suppression were similar in all study arms, ranging from 78% to 90% in patients receiving MK-8591, and 84% in those on the three-drug combination without MK-8591.

 

Every other day antiretroviral maintenance strategy
 Another analysis focused on reducing the number of pills that a person living with HIV must take. Specifically, this open-label, randomized Phase III study compared the use of typical three-drug regimens taken four days per week with daily use.  After 48 weeks of treatment, the four-days-per-week approach was found to be non-inferior to everyday treatment, in terms of maintaining viral suppression. These findings offer further evidence that newer HIV treatment drugs can be used in innovative ways.