Complications Lead to End of Fat-Loss Study

A study gauging the effects of nucleoside-sparing antiretroviral regimens on the incidence of fat loss from the face and extremities has been stopped because a high number of patients experienced viral rebound, French researchers report. The study included 117 antiretroviral-naive HIV-positive adults, half of whom were started on therapy containing only protease inhibitors and nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors. The researchers had hoped to see if avoiding nucleoside medications reduced the changes of developing fat loss, but they called off the study after 48 weeks when data showed only about 62% of subjects in the nucleoside-sparing regimen had suppressed HIV viral loads below 50, compared to nearly 79% of those on regimens including nucleoside drugs. The study backs up previous research that showed only 66% of HIVers taking a regimen of Sustiva and Kaletra were able to suppress HIV viral levels to below 50, compared to 74% of those taking Sustiva plus two nucleosides.