Important note: Information in this article was accurate in July 2002. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.AIDSWEEKLY Plus; July 1, 2002
Michael Greer, Senior Medical Writer
"The most frequent side-effects due to nevirapine (Viramune), the first non-nucleoside HIV reverse transcriptase inhibitor introduced for clinical use, are cutaneous hypersensitivity reactions," explained Djamel Messaad and colleagues at Arnaud de Villeneuve Hospital, Montpellier University Hospital and Gui de Chauliac Hospital in Montpellier.
Tolerance can be safely, rapidly, and durably induced in patients with limited treatment options who experience such reactions, the researchers found.
A group of six HIV patients with a history of allergic reactions to nevirapine were administered increasing doses of the agent every half-hour over a 6-hour period. Nevirapine doses were increased from the initial 2.5 µg to a final dose of 100 mg during this time, Messaad and coauthors said.
Five of the six study participants were subsequently able to receive nevirapine therapy without complications for at least 3 months, study data showed. One patient discontinued nevirapine treatment after 1 month due to a resumption of hypersensitivity reactions.
In addition, one of the successfully treated patients reported a "mild and transient" allergic reaction immediately after the tolerance induction regimen (Long-term safety and efficacy of nevirapine tolerance induction, Clin Exp Allergy 2002 May;32(5):733-5.
"Therefore, when no alternatives are available in severely ill and hypersensitive HIV-infected patients, tolerance induction is a possible therapeutic option," Messaad and colleagues concluded.
A search at www.NewsRx.net using the term "AIDS and HIV therapy" yielded 1,146 articles in 28 specialized reports.
The corresponding author for this report is Dr. Pascal Demoly, Maladies Respiratoires, INSERM U454, Hopital Arnaud de Villeneuve, CHU de Montpellier, 34295 Montpellier Cedex 5, France. E-mail: demoly@montp.inserm.fr.
Key points reported in this study include:
This article was prepared by AIDS Weekly editors from staff and other reports.
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