Study: Emtriva more potent than similar drugs (9287)

?Tm a Phase III clinical trial of the recently approved HIV nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor Emtriva presented at the International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis and Treatment in Paris shows that the once-daily drug is more potent than another commonly used NRTI medication. The study of 571 previously treatment-naive HIV-positive adults over a 60-week period compared the efficacy of Gilead Sciences' Emtriva with Bristol-Myers Squibb's Zerit (d4T). Nearly 80% of those receiving an anti-HIV drug regimen containing Emtriva had viral suppression below 400 copies, compared with 63% of the study subjects taking an antiretroviral cocktail that included Zerit. The average T-cell count of study subjects taking Emtriva rose by 165 cells, while T-cell counts climbed by an average of 137 cells among those taking Zerit. Patients taking Emtriva also reported less adverse side effects, including nausea, diarrhea, and neuropathy, than those in the Zerit arm of the study. "This study demonstrates that Emtriva has an excellent clinical profile on three important fronts--efficacy, durability, and tolerability for patients," said John C. Martin, president and CEO of Gilead Sciences. Researchers at Gilead are currently conducting research on combining Emtriva with the company's nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitor Viread into a single pill that can be taken once daily.