Prezista achieves non-inferior virologic response to lopinavir

96-week results presented from a Phase III, randomized, open-label, ongoing clinical trial showed that 79% of treatment-naive HIV-1 infected adults taking Johnson & Johnson's Prezista (darunavir) 800mg (two 400mg tablets) with 100mg ritonavir once daily reached an undetectable viral load (<50 copies/mL) at week 96, compared with 71% of patients taking lopinavir/ritonavir 800mg/200mg once daily (or 400mg/100 mg twice daily), each with a fixed dose of emtricitabine and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate.

Results from the ARTEMIS study were presented at the 48th annual Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy in Washington DC, USA. At 48 weeks, the primary objective of ARTEMIS was reached when Prezista/r was demonstrated to be non-inferior to lopinavir/r for virologic response (confirmed HIV RNA < 50 copies/mL). However, the difference between the treatment arms was not significant at that time.