Australian Researchers to Undertake Major HIV Drug Review

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded an $18 million (US $12.42 million) grant to University of New South Wales researchers to examine ways to expand the worldwide number of HIV/AIDS patients accessing treatment. The UNSW study will enroll almost 700 HIV patients internationally and seek to identify whether lower doses of AIDS drugs could be used without cutting their efficacy, said Professor Sean Emery of the university-based National Center in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research.

"When people make decisions about doses they tend to go for something nearer the maximum tolerated dose rather than the minimum effective dose," Emery said. "On that basis, there is a view that with certain drugs, not all, it is quite proper and appropriate to look at whether we could get away with lower unit doses. A 25 to 33 percent saving on the daily dose would allow you to treat 25 to 33 percent more people."

Most other paths to economize treatment, from altering the drugs' chemical compositions to streamlining the manufacture and supply chain, are already being addressed, Emery said. Enrollment in the ENCORE (Evaluation of Novel Concepts in Optimization of Antiretroviral Efficacy) study will begin this year. Results are expected to be published by mid-2013.

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