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

One-hundred-week data, which demonstrated the continuing power of
CRIXIVAN-based combinations to create durable viral suppression, are being
published in a special issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association
(JAMA) in conjunction with the World AIDS Conference in Geneva.
50% Reduction in Risk of Disease Progression and Death
In the second study published in New England Journal of Medicine of
patients who had previously taken other anti-HIV medications, CRIXIVAN in
triple therapy cut the risk of AIDS-related infections and deaths by approximately
half compared to the combination of AZT and 3TC.
The authors of the study, ACTG 320, concluded that well-tolerated,
potent therapies, such as the study arm that contained CRIXIVAN, are preferred
for people with advanced HIV disease.
In March 1997, AIDS researchers presented long-term evidence (median
follow-up more than one year) from Merck Protocol 028, an endpoint trial
undertaken in Brazil. They study found that people taking CRIXIVAN were:
* Almost two-thirds less likely to develop an AIDS-defining condition
(opportunistic infection or death) compared to people who were
treated with another antiviral drug, AZT.
* The positive benefit was statistically significant for the two CRIXIVAN
treatment regimens tested in the study, which included CRIXIVAN in
combination with AZT (70 percent risk reduction), and monotherapy
with CRIXIVAN (61 percent risk reduction).
"Taken together, the trials strongly support the encouraging and extensive
viral load and CD4 count data previously presented on CRIXIVAN, and further
establish CRIXIVAN as a cornerstone of HIV/AIDS treatment," said Randi
Leavitt, M.D., senior director of Clinical Research at Merck Research
Laboratories.