HIV drug study ACTG5202 overview by Anton Pozniak

One of the largest-ever HIV trials - ACT5202, a trial carried out by the AIDS Clinical Trial Group (ACTG) which was created in 1987 by the U. based National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) to broaden the scope of its AIDS research effort - reported its findings to the Conference of Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) held in San Francisco, USA.

ACT5202 was a randomized equivalence study of blinded abacavir/lamivudine (ABC/3TC) or tenofovir/emtricitabine (TDF/FTC) with efavirenz (EFV) or atazanavir/ritonavir (ATV/r). A Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) previously recommended unblinding those in high viral load (VL) stratum due to a shorter time to viral failure (VF) for ABC/3TC than TDF/FTC.

In a video interview, Anton Pozniak, Service Director for HIV Services, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, London, UK, explained why he believes those findings may have implications for guidelines for HIV treatment in some countries including the UK.