Sustiva™ licensed in European Union

On June 1^st, efavirenz (Sustiva™) was given formal approval

for marketing in the European Union and is now available on prescription for use

in combination with other antiretrovirals in the treatment of HIV-infected

adults, adolescents and children three years or older, weighing more than

13kg.

Efavirenz is a once-daily drug which has been shown to have

a potent effect on viral load in treatment naïve patients when combined with two

nucleoside analogues. The early results from a head-to-head study comparing

efavirenz/AZT/3TC with indinavir/AZT/3TC led the authors of US guidelines on the

use of antiretrovirals to recommend an efavirenz-based regimen as the only

alternative to protease inhibitor-based regimens in first line therapy.

A factsheet and research findings on efavirenz are available

elsewhere on aidsmap.com For an overview go to

href="http://www.aidsmap.com/article.asp?articleID=683&heading3=Efavirenz+%2D+overview">http://www.aidsmap.com/article.asp?articleID=683&heading3=Efavirenz+%2D+overview

For more detailed coverage of research findings see

href="http://www.aidsmap.com/article.asp?articleID=1687&heading3=Efavirenz+%2D+key+research">http://www.aidsmap.com/article.asp?articleID=1687&heading3=Efavirenz+%2D+key+research

Manufacturers DuPont Pharma have priced efavirenz (an NNRTI)

at a level equivalent to the protease inhibitor indinavir, and significantly

above the cost of the only other NNRTI licensed in the EU,

nevirapine.