TreatmentUpdate 71, Volume 8, No 7; October 1996
Sean Hosein

In the CAESAR (Canada, Australia, Europe and South Africa) study doctors gave subjects fake 3TC (placebo), 3TC or a combination of 3TC and loviride in addition to whichever antiviral drugs they were already using. Thus, before entering the study subjects were using either AZT, AZT and ddC or AZT and ddI. The dose of 3TC used was 150 mg twice daily and that of loviride was 100 mg three times daily. Nearly 1900 subjects entered the study and had between 25 and 250 CD4+ cells at the start of the trial.

Results -- Survival

The following proportion of subjects in each group died:

* placebo - 17%

* 3TC - 9%

* 3TC and loviride - 8%

The researchers did not release information on changes in the amount of HIV in the blood of subjects. That subjects who received 3TC and/or loviride were less likely to:

* die

* develop life-threatening infections

was [statistically] significant. In a regimen of 'nukes' (nucleoside analogues; AZT, ddC, ddI, d4T), taking 3TC and/or loviride is likely to decrease the risk of death or developing AIDS.

REFERENCES:

1. Montaner J, Cooper DA, Katlama C, et al . CAESAR: confirmation of the clinical benefit of 3TC (Epivir) in HIV-1 disease: preliminary results. Abstract LB06.

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