New Hope for the HIV-infected

Congratulations!

An international team of AIDS researchers has found that a once-daily combination of three antiretroviral drugs works better as an initial treatment for HIV infection than another widely-accepted three-drug combination, according to a new study.

Reporting in the latest issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, the researchers showed that after one year of treatment, a regimen of antiretroviral pills, called tenofovir DF (Viread) and emtricitabine (Emtriva), plus efavirenz (Sustiva), led to 14 percent more patients being able to suppress levels of the virus.

At the same time, they encountered fewer problems of anemia, fatigue and nausea compared to use of another widely used combination of antiretrovirals, zidovudine and lamivudine (AZT and 3TC, or Combivir), plus efavirenz.

(Source: AFP)