HIV AIDS News [International Conference on AIDS (12th: 1998: Geneva, Switzerland)]

As more patients continue to do well on long-term therapy, adherence
assumes an even more important role and one that is of growing concern to
AIDS treatment specialists, according to a survey published last month in the
Journal of the International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care. The U.S.
survey, which examined HIV patients' adherence to treatment regimens, found
that 43 percent, or nearly half, of patients admit to not taking their medication as
prescribed. HIV-treating physicians, who also participated in the survey,
estimated that as many as 54 percent of their patients do not take their
medication properly, thereby reducing the effectiveness of antiretroviral therapy
and increasing the opportunity for drug-resistant strains of HIV to emerge.
In addition to promoting resistance, 'drug holidays' -- the term used to
describe a patient skipping one or more doses -- also undermine the core aim of
the 'hit hard, hit early' approach recommended in international guidelines on
treatment of HIV.
"It is essential to maintain dosing schedules and regimens long-term,"
said Jeff Chodakewitz, M.D., executive director of Clinical Research at Merck
Research Laboratories, New Jersey, USA. "Compliance is the key to successful
HIV viral suppression, and we're working to try to make it even easier for
patients to continue to take CRIXIVAN."
Promising Twice-Daily Results
During the Conference, thousands of delegates from around the world will
see leading AIDS researchers present additional clinical data on convenient,
twice-daily dosing of CRIXIVAN. Researchers will present preliminary results of
several clinical trials that provide additional evidence that CRIXIVAN can be
taken twice-daily -- instead of the standard three-times-a-day -- without losing
efficacy or increasing side-effects.