The latest Spanish research shows promising results for a new Aids medication created to help patients who are having the most trouble keeping the disease at bay.
According to the results of the research, The medication darunavir, when taken with an older medicines, turns out to be 4.5 times more successful than existing regimens at decreasing the level of the Aids virus in the blood to near zero.
Darunavir, recognized by the brand name Prezista, has been obtainable in the United States since last year and is not yet obtainable in South Africa. The results of the research were previously obtainable, however are only now being published after they were analyzed by the specialists in the Aids field, explained Dr Robert Shafer, an Aids expert who is familiar with these findings.
It is an obvious advance
"It is an obvious advance," explained Shafer, an associate professor of medicine-infectious illnesses at Stanford University’s School of Medicine. "Healthcare providers share a lot of information with each other, and we all know that it has already helped a lot of patients who’ve failed multiple other medicines."
The results of the study were expected to be published online on April 5 by the journal The Lancet.
Over the past ten years, a new generation of Aids medications, known as antiretrovirals, has allowed many HIV-infected patients to live practically normal lives. However, the AIDS virus is a quick study in terms of mutating itself to avoid medicines, and patients often become immune to the medications they take. That allows the virus to make patients more ill.
Complicating matters eve more, some pateints are infected with strains of HIV that are already resistant to particular medications.
When other medicines fail
Enter darunavir, that is used when other medicines are not effective.
In the latest research, Spanish scientists monitored 230 HIV-positive patients who were randomly chosen to receive a combination of darunavir and another AIDS medication called ritonavir (at 600 and 100 milligrams twice a day, respectively) or other medication regimens that also utilize so-called protease inhibitors.
All of the patients were suffering from advanced stages of HIV infection, and obtainable medicines appeared to be working improperly.
The scientists examined the patients after 48 weeks of the therapy and discovered that 61 per cent of those taking the darunavir regimen had a level of HIV genetic material that was at least tenfold lower than it had been previously. Only 15 per cent of the other patients, those taking the older regimen, achieved that level.
Moreover, 45 per cent of those taking darunavir had fundamentally undetectable levels of the HIV genetic material in their blood, in comparison with 10 per cent of the other group.
Patients not cured
Although the patients demonstrated very low levels of HIV in their blood, they were not cured; the infection hides in the body and is able to return.
The investigators also discovered that darunavir improved the immune systems of the patients. The research indicates that this may considerably increase their likelihood of not going on to develop Aids within the next three years.
Stanford’s Shafer explained that darunavir acts well without leading to serious side effects, however, it’s not a silver bullet.
Healthcare providers "really have to analyze the data in the research in order to know what sort of response their patient will get," he explained. "Not every patient will reach undetectable levels (of the virus). It will be essential to use other medications. Too much confidence about this medication can be problematic."
A lot of reason for hope
Still, for patients suffering advanced HIV infection, there’s plenty of reason for hope, explained Dr Michael Horberg, director of HIV/AIDS policy, quality improvement, and research for the Kaiser Permanente Health Plan. "For a period, there appeared to be a little bit of stagnation in terms of the latest (medicine) options. Currently, if patients are failing regimens, they should not unavoidably carry on plodding along with the old regimens, thinking there are no other options."
More studies are necessary to find out if darunavir will help patients in the earlier stages of HIV infection, Shafer explained. "It is really difficult to know what the final place of this medication will be," he added. "Will it be used up front more frequently, or for those who failed multiple other medicines? We really need to wait for other research."
