Once-Daily Regimen Is Effective Against HIV

A study in the February edition of the journal AIDS showed that once-daily dosing of HIV antiretroviral medications is both highly effective and well-tolerated. French researchers, studying treatment-naive HIV-positive adults with advanced HIV disease in Senegal, gave the study participants once-daily doses of Sustiva, Epivir, and Videx'all taken together at bedtime. After one year of treatment, 77% of the 40 study patients achieved viral loads under 50 copies; 69% maintained the low viral loads after 15 months. CD4-cell counts climbed among the patients by an average of 199 cells after 15 months, and none of the study subjects had to stop taking the anti-HIV medications due to adverse side effects. The researchers concluded that the once-daily regimen 'was safe, easy-to-take, and demonstrated strong antiretroviral and immunologic effects.'