AZT Doesn't Prevent Vertical Infections

Adding AZT to a short-course of Viramune to help HIV-positive pregnant women avoid transmitting the virus to their infants doesn't provide more protection than Viramune alone, researchers reported at the 45th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. Previous studies have shown Viramune is better than AZT when taken alone to prevent vertical infections, but researchers in Zimbabwe wanted to test whether combining the drugs reduced infection chances even further. However, their study of nearly 1,200 HIV-positive women was canceled when initial data showed no statistical difference between the risk reduction achieved by taking Viramune alone or the Viramune-AZT combination.