• Once-Daily Emtricitabine Compared to Twice-Daily Abacavir Within a HAART Regimen in Antiretroviral Drug-Naive HIV-1-Infected Patients (ODECTA) (Poster 547)
  Authored by A.L. Shaw, G. Shen, C.W. Wakeford, J.B. Quinn, F.S. Rousseau
  

The recently approved agent FTC (emtricitabine, Emtriva) has been evaluated in several treatment-naive patients, where it is likely to be used in a similar fashion as the drug with which it shares a resistance profile, 3TC (lamivudine, Epivir). This small prospective study evaluated the comparative efficacy of once-daily FTC versus twice-daily abacavir (ABC, Ziagen), both in combination with d4T (stavudine, Zerit) and efavirenz (EFV, Sustiva), in treatment-naive patients.

Thirty-seven patients were enrolled, with the primary endpoint being the proportion of patients to achieve VL <50 copies/mL at week 24. The mean CD4 cell count was 333, and HIV RNA 4.6 log. There were two discontinuations in both arms for adverse effects. At the end of the study period, 83.3 percent of FTC-treated patients and 63.2 percent of abacavir-treated patients had HIV RNA levels less than 50 copies/mL.

Although the difference in results favored FTC, the small sample size made this comparison not statistically significant. Nonetheless, the results further support using FTC (or 3TC) as part of initial regimens, as has been demonstrated in numerous other trials.