Drug Option for Patients Beginning HIV Treatment Studied

HIV integrase inhibitor raltegravir "is safe and effective for patients beginning treatment against HIV, according to researchers who completed a two-year, multi-site Phase III clinical trial comparing it with standard antiretroviral drugs," the Atlanta Business Journal reports (Karkaria, 8/10). The study -- to be published in an upcoming issue of the Lancet -- was led by Jeffrey Lennox, a professor of medicine (infectious diseases) at Emory University School of Medicine, chief of Emory's HIV/AIDS clinical trials unit and vice-chair of medicine at Grady Memorial Hospital (Emory University's Robert W. Woodruff Health Sciences Center release, 8/3). Researchers also found that raltegravir, "is overall as effective as efavirenz, a reverse transcriptase inhibitor," and "also had faster onset of action and fewer adverse side effects," according to the Business Journal. Lennox said, "These results provide an additional potent, well-tolerated treatment option for newly diagnosed patients with HIV infection" (8/10).

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