Global Studies to Test Efficacy of HIV Drugs

Two large global studies testing the effectiveness of HIV drugs are being undertaken by the Academic Medical Center—International Antiviral Therapy Evaluation Center in Amsterdam (The Netherlands).

The first study, on compact highly active antiretroviral medication (CHARM), will evaluate the effect of combivir and abacavir in HIV-1 infected subjects without previous anti-HIV treatment. This study will also explore the effects of short-term immunosuppressive therapy. The study will involve 225 patients in South Africa, Western and Eastern Europe, and Canada over a 72-week period.

The second study is an open-label comparative study to evaluate the short-term antiviral efficacy of nevirapine and efavirenz or both drugs together in combination with stavudine and lamivudine. This study will involve 1,200 patients in Europe, the United States, South America, Australia, and Thailand over a 48-week period.

The testing will be conducted by the clinical trials testing division of Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings (LabCorp, Mechelen, Belgium), using the Roche Amplicor HIV polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay and ultra-sensitive assay. LabCorp's clinical trials division is a central laboratory supporting global pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device clinical trials.




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