Less side effects with switch from Combivir to Truvada

US drugmaker Gilead Sciences says that 48-week data from a Phase III trial evaluating virologically-suppressed HIV patients who switched from treatment with twice-daily UK pharmaceutical major GlaxoSmithKline's Combivir (lamivudine/zidovudine) to treatment with Gilead's once-daily Truvada (emtricitabine and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate) as part of their combination drug therapy. In the SWEET study, those who switched to Truvada, both in combination with once-daily Sustiva (efavirenz), experienced improvements in a number of treatment-related side effects. Patients in both study arms maintained virological suppression at 48 weeks. The data were presented at the 11th European AIDS Conference (EACS), held in Madrid, Spain.

"As HIV patients live longer and remain on therapy for extended periods of time, the long-term side effect profile of treatment is increasingly more important," said Martin Fisher, principal investigator for the SWEET study. "Data from this study indicate that patients on long-term Combivir therapy without clinical lipoatrophy may benefit from switching to Truvada, as virological control can be maintained and limb fat loss and recovery may be improved. These data support the new EACS 2007 guidelines regarding proactive switching." New European HIV treatment guidelines issued this week at EACS list Truvada among the recommended components of a first-line treatment regimen for antiretroviral-naive patients, Gliead noted, adding that Combivir, previously recommended as a first-line treatment option, is now listed as an alternative treatment option.