have only had 20 drug failures over three years
among 500 to 600 patients on an NNRTI-plus-two nucleosides regime,"
he said.
Gus
Cairns
The new
BHIVA Treatment Guidelines can be downloaded from: www.aidsmap.com
page 3 of 8
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Help for lipodystrophy
Fat accumulation and wasting may not inevitably result from protease-inhibitor
(PI) containing regimes and may be treatable, delegates heard at two HIV
conferences last month.
The 3rd International Workshop on Lipodystrophy, and the 8th European
Conference on Aids, both held in Athens, heard that certain protease inhibitors
seemed less likely to cause aspects of the lipodystrophy syndrome than
others.
A small study seemed to indicate that amprenavir (Agenerase) might cause
less lipodystrophy, or cause it more slowly, than other currently-licensed
PIs. 14 patients starting on a combo of amprenavir, abacavir and AZT or
d4T showed no signs of diabetic symptoms like increased glucose for the
first six months, and did not get fast wasting - in fact they put on weight.
There were slight signs of 'paunch', however, and blood triglycerides
(a type of fat) went up by 90 per cent. Interestingly, bone mineral density
actually increased, contrary to what has been observed with other PI-based
regimes.
The yet-to-be-licensed once-a-day PI atazanavir may be more promising.
