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10th Anniversary Conference Of The British HIV Association [BHIVA]15 – 17 April 2004, City Hall, Cardiff, UK |
[AUTHOR(S):] L Swaden, C Sabin, F Lampe, S Bhagani, M Youle, J Ballinger, MA Johnson
Royal Free and University College Medical School, London, UK
BHIVA Conf 2004 Apr 15-17;10:P1
BACKGROUND: While simplification of antiretroviral therapy with Trizivir has been advocated as a way of reducing pill burden and improving concordance, it is unclear whether a durable response to therapy can be maintained.
METHODS: We identified 50 patients who switched to a combination of zidovudine, lamivudine and abacavir with a viral load <50 HIV-1 RNA copies/ml, and assessed subsequent changes in viral load, CD4 count and clinical events.
RESULTS: The patients had received highly active antiretroviral therapy for a median of 20 months, using a median of 4 drugs; 46 had received non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors and 31 protease inhibitors. Over a median follow-up of 16 months, 19 patients made at least one change to their regimen (11 stopped abacavir, 12 stopped zidovudine, nine stopped lamivudine and seven added in another drug). Eleven of the 50 patients had a viral blip of >50 copies/ml; this was sustained in seven patients. The median time to a blip was 5.5 months. No new AIDS event occurred following the switch and a median rise in the CD4 count of 90 cells/µl was seen in the first six months post switch.
CONCLUSIONS: Although a sustained viral rebound was seen in 22% of these patients, there were no new AIDS events and CD4 counts continued to increase.
PRESENTING AUTHOR: L Swaden
040415
P1
Copyright © 2004 - British HIV Association (BHIVA) Reproduction of this abstract (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the BHIVA Organising Secretariat 1 Mountview Court, 310 Friern Barnet Lane, London N20 0LD