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Original Article
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Volume 333:1662-1669 December 21, 1995 Number 25
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Treatment with Lamivudine, Zidovudine, or Both in HIV-Positive Patients with 200 to 500 CD4+ Cells per Cubic Millimeter
Joseph J. Eron, M.D., Sharon L. Benoit, R.N., M.P.H., Joseph Jemsek, M.D., Rodger D. MacArthur, M.D., Jorge Santana, M.D., Joseph B. Quinn, M.S.P.H., Daniel R. Kuritzkes, M.D., Mary Ann Fallon, B.S.N., Marc Rubin, M.D., for The North American HIV Working Party

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ABSTRACT

Background The reverse-transcriptase inhibitor lamivudine has in vitro synergy with zidovudine against the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). We studied the activity and safety of lamivudine plus zidovudine as compared with either drug alone as treatment for patients with HIV infection, most of whom had not previously received zidovudine.

Methods Three hundred sixty-six patients with 200 to 500 CD4+ cells per cubic millimeter who had received zidovudine for four weeks or less were randomly assigned to treatment with one of four regimens: 300 mg of lamivudine every 12 hours; 200 mg of zidovudine every 8 hours; 150 mg of lamivudine every 12 hours plus zidovudine; or 300 mg of lamivudine every 12 hours plus zidovudine. The study was double-blind and lasted 24 weeks, with an extension phase for another 28 weeks.

Results Over the 24-week period, the low-dose and high-dose regimens combining lamivudine and zidovudine were associated with greater increases in the CD4+ cell count (P = 0.002 and P = 0.015, respectively) and the percentage of CD4+ cells (P<0.001 for both) and with greater decreases in plasma levels of HIV type 1 (HIV-1) RNA (P<0.001 for both) than was treatment with zidovudine alone. Combination therapy was also more effective than lamivudine alone in lowering plasma HIV-1 RNA levels and increasing the percentage of CD4+ cells (P<0.001 for all comparisons), and these advantages persisted through 52 weeks. Adverse events were no more frequent with combination therapy than with zidovudine alone.

Conclusions In HIV-infected patients with little or no prior antiretroviral therapy, treatment with a combination of lamivudine and zidovudine is well tolerated over a one-year period and produces more improvement in immunologic and virologic measures than does treatment with either agent alone.


Source Information

From the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill (J.J.E.); Glaxo Wellcome, Research Triangle Park, N.C. (S.L.B., J.B.Q., M.A.F., M.R.); the Nalle Clinic, Charlotte, N.C. (J.J.); the Medical College of Ohio, Toledo (R.D.M.); the San Juan AIDS Institute, Santurce, Puerto Rico (J.S.); and the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Denver (D.R.K.). Presented in part at the Second National Conference on Human Retroviruses and Related Infections, Washington, D.C., January 29–February 2, 1995.

Address reprint requests to Dr. Eron at the School of Medicine, CB# 7030, 547 Burnett-Womack, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7030.

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