The European Commission announced earlier this week that both T-20 (enfuvirtide, Fuzeon) and tenofovir (Viread) have received marketing approval in Europe.
Tenofovir is now approved for prescription in first-line therapy, although draft British HIV Association guidelines presented at last month’s BHIVA conference suggested that there was still insufficient evidence to use tenofovir as a component of a first-line regimen.
T-20 has been approved for use in individuals who have experienced failure of drugs from each existing class of antiretrovirals, or who have intolerance to previous antiretroviral regimens.
Due to the limited supply of T-20, patients who need the drug in the UK within the next month will continue to be enrolled into the Individual Patient Supply programme, which does not charge for treatment. All patients already enrolled will be provided with one more month’s further supply of free drug, after which their treatment centre will begin to pay for T-20.