Pfizer's maraviroc fares well vs efavirenz

World drug giant Pfizer says that rates of virologic suppression in patients receiving its novel CCR5 antagonist, maraviroc, were 70.6% versus 73.1% for those on efavirenz in terms of the under 400 copies/ml efficacy benchmark and 65.3% vs 69.3% at 50 copies/ml in the full analysis set study population, according to data presented at the International AIDS Society conference, held in Sydney, Australia. Increases in CD4+ cell counts from baseline were also greater with maraviroc (+170 cells/mm3) than with EFV (+144 cells/mm3).

The 48-week MERIT trial evaluated the antiretroviral activity of maraviroc (300mg, twice daily) compared to efavirenz, a current standard of care, at 600mg once daily, both dosed with zidovudine/lamivudine in CCR5-tropic HIV-1 infected treatment-naive patients.