New HIV Treatment Approved by FDA

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a new fixed-dose combination product for the treatment of HIV.

TRIUMEQ, a combination of dolutegravir (integrate strand transfer inhibitor), abacavir sulfate and lamivudine (both nucleoside analogue reverse transcriptase inhibitors) are both federally approved for the treatment of HIV-1 infection.

• TRIUMEQ alone is not recommended for use in patients with current or past history of resistance to any components of TRIUMEQ.
• TRIUMEQ alone is not recommended in patients with resistance-associated integrase substitutions or clinically suspected integrase strand transfer inhibitor resistance because the dose of dolutegravir in TRIUMEQ is insufficient in these subpopulations. See full prescribing information for dolutegravir.

The recommended dosage regimen of TRIUMEQ in adults is one tablet once daily orally with or without food.

TRIUMEQ is contraindicated in patients:

• who have the HLA-B*5701 allele.
• with previous hypersensitivity reaction to abacavir. Before starting TRIUMEQ, review medical history for prior exposure to any abacavir-containing product. NEVER restart TRIUMEQ or any other abacavir containing product following a hypersensitivity reaction to abacavir, regardless of HLA B*5701 status.
• with previous hypersensitivity reaction to dolutegravir or lamivudine.
• receiving dofetilide, due to the potential for increased dofetilide plasma concentrations and the risk for serious and/or life-threatening events with concomitant use of dolutegravir.
• with moderate or severe hepatic impairment.

Content for this article provided by the FDA website.

New Ideas in Treating HIV

The AIDS conference was held in Boston this past week, and quite a bit of promising information was shared by doctors.

A group of doctors shared the news that a baby girl born in Los Angeles last April was born with the AIDS virus and is now in remission possibly because of very early treatment. The baby was treated four hours after birth. She is the second baby to go into remission after early treatment, a similar outcome happened a month earlier for a baby in Mississippi.

Doctors are still treating the Los Angeles baby for AIDS, although it does appear she is in remission and doctors are cautiously optimistic. The Mississippi baby is no longer on AIDS medicine.

Scientists have also modified genes in the blood cells of a dozen adults, the modification helps them resist HIV. The hope is that this approach will be able to keep some people from needing medicines to keep HIV under control in the future.

"The ultimate goal is to create an immune system in the body that's been edited genetically so the cells are not capable of being infected with HIV," said director Dr. Anthony Fauci, "but we are a long way from there at this point."