Better days ahead for Africans living with HIV as new study suggest safe lessening of drug burden
ViiV, HIV unit of GlaxoSmithoKline, has released results from a study that shows a new 2-drug combination regimen is as effective in the treatment of HIV as the 3-drug regimen that is the standard treatment now.
For the GEMINI study, a combination of dolutegravir and lamivudine was tested against the standard triple-therapy regimen for effectiveness in controlling HIV, the virus responsible for the AIDS disease.
A total of 1,400 patients were included in the 48-week-long and the researchers concluded that most patients in the study achieved good viral control with the 2-drug combination, even in patients who had high levels of virus in their blood before treatment. There were no cases of resistance among the patients.
Some experts are however hesitant as to safety of the regimen especially in pregnancy and the possibility of resistance.
Resistance is an important consideration for HIV medications hence the triple drug regimen which protects the development of resistance to any of the medications.
Usually HIV-infected people have to take the medications throughout their lifetime and if resistance develops to any of the drugs, global HIV control efforts may be in jeopardy.
If this new two-drug regimen continues to be proven safe and effective in more studies, the daily and lifetime drug burdens for HIV-infected people in Africa and across the world will be reduced. It will also result in less costs and less side-effects seen.