already develop faster in patients co-infected with
HIV - who may take 3TC in their HIV therapy.
A European study in the Journal of Clinical Virology found that when a
group of 46 co-infected patients received 3TC for more than six months,
the number with 3TC-resistant HBV rose from 25 per cent to 50 per cent.
Resistant patients were more likely to develop liver damage, as were those
with a reduced body weight or low CD4 count.
page 4 of 8
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Mum-to-baby prevention programmes questioned
The provision of low-dose drug regimes to prevent mother-to-child transmission
(MTCT) of HIV in the developing world has received two setbacks.
On 22 March, the US Food and Drug Agency effectively withdrew its approval
for the use of two doses of nevirapine (one to mum, one to baby) for MTCT
use. South African campaigners have been suing their own government to
make it provide this regime.
Then, on 6 April, The Lancet journal reported that in a trial of another
regime (AZT/3TC), any advantage in HIV transmission rates was wiped out
by the time the babies were 18 months old, due to transmission through
breast milk. An accompanying editorial questioned the very concept of
preventing HIV transmission to babies, but not Aids in the mothers.
Nevirapine's manufacturers, Boehringer Ingelheim, withdrew their application
to the
FDA after problems - described as "potentially quite serious" - came to light in the HIVNET 012 trial in Uganda, used in the application.
