• Once-Daily Combination Therapy with Emtricitabine, Didanosine, and Efavirenz in Treatment-Naive HIV-Infected Adults: 64-Week Follow-Up of the ANRS 091 Trial (Poster 321)
  Authored by J. M. Molina, S. Perusat, F. Ferchal, C. Rancinan, F. Raffi, W. Rozenbaum, D. Sereni, P. Morlat, G. Chene, and the Montana Study Group
  View the original abstract

Once-daily therapy for HIV is extremely attractive in terms of convenience and potentially increased adherence. Emtricitabine (FTC) is a cytosine nucleoside analog very similar to lamivudine (3TC), with phamacokinetics that support once-daily administration.

ANRS 091 is an open-label, non-comparative study of once-daily combination therapy in 40 naive adults with at least 100 CD4 cells and a viral load of at least 5,000 copies. All three drugs were given at bedtime at standard doses (200mg for emtricitabine). At 64 weeks, 90% of the people in the study had viral loads of less than 400 copies in an intent-to-treat analysis, including 7/8 who had baseline viral loads above 100,000 copies. The mean CD4 increase was 219 cells. The regimen was well tolerated, with three patients discontinuing therapy for adverse effects. Thirty-five patients continue on study at the week 64 time point.

This small pilot study suggests that a once-daily regimen of FTC, ddI and efavirenz is feasible and warrants further investigation.