4 VIEWS & REVIEWS

'Ibroo-drug combinations to be tested in AIDS

A study designed to investigate the ability of two different 3-drug combinations to reduce the viral load and produce a sustained increase in CD4+ cell counts in patients with mv infection is underway in the US.

The study is being conducted by the Inter­Company Collaboration for AIDS Drug Develop­ment in conjunction with PAREXEL, an inter­national contract research organisation. Patients with CD4+ cell counts between 200 and 500/mml who have not previously received antiretroviral therapy are being enrolled in the multi centre study.

The two 3-drug combinations to be tested arc: • zidovudine [Retrovir~ + zalcitabine [HIVID~

+ saquinavir" OnviraseTlol J • zidovuctine + zalcitabine + nevirapine.··

These 2 regimens will also be compared with the 2-drug combination of zidovudine + zalcitabine.

Because of the emergence of vi ral resistance with monotherapy, combinations of antiviral drugs will probably be needed to control mv infection, says Dr David Barry, chair of the Inter*Company Collaboration 's Clinical Trials Committee that designed the study protocol. ' - M~dja nJ~as~

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