In agreement with the European Union’s medicine regulatory body, the manufacturer of the nucleotide analogue tenofovir (VireadTM)has written to doctors in the UK and Ireland warning them not to use the drug with ddI and 3TC as a new HAART regimen in treatment naïve or experienced patients.
The advice is similar to that issued to US doctors last week after a 24 week pilot study showed that patients using this combination experienced a high rate of virological failure and NRTI resistance. Details of the study and the warning issued to US doctors can be read here.
Gilead is also cautioning that patients who currently have a controlled viral load using the tenofovir/ddI/3TC combination should be closely monitored for sings of treatment failure and considered for treatment modification at the first signs of viral load increase.