Roche Shows Three HIV Drugs Cut AIDS Onset

Data from a large-scale HIV treatment trial have revealed that atriple-antiretroviral regimen, including the HIV protease inhibitor Invirase (saquinavir), is clinically superior to a standard two-drug regimen.

The results of the SV-14604 study suggest that the combination of Invirase, Roche's Hivid (zalcitabine) and Glaxo Wellcome's Retrovir (zidovudine) delayed disease progression and prolonged survival by 50% (p=0.0001) compared to Hivid and Retrovir alone. All 3,485 patients in the study were treatment-naive or had been exposed to only limited antiretroviral treatment.

Grahame Moyle, associate director of HIV research at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London, UK, described the 50% reduction in the combined endpoint as "dramatic." He noted that this is the first study to look at adding a protease inhibitor to dual therapy with nucleoside analogs in treatment-naive patients. Importantly, the regimen was also well-tolerated, which is good news in light of the emergence of compliance as a key issue in multidrug therapy for HIV.