Study confirms drug cocktails reduce rates of AIDS

LONDON (Reuters) – Cocktails of anti-AIDS drugs cut the
rate of progression from infection with HIV to full-blown AIDS
by 86 percent compared to patients not receiving any treatment,
British researchers said on Friday.

They found that the effectiveness of highly active
antiretroviral therapy (HAART), a combination of at least three
treatments from two drug classes, increased with time.

Until now the benefits over several years were not known
because trials of the drugs, which must be taken for life, were
limited to a follow-up of a year or less.

“Our results indicate that HAART reduced the rate of
progression to AIDS by 86 percent and that its effectiveness
compared with no treatment increased with time since
initiation,” said Dr Jonathan Sterne, of the University of
Bristol, in southwestern England, who headed the research team.

But HAART was less beneficial for patients who were thought
to have been infected through intravenous drug use.

The anti-AIDS drug cocktails have transformed the illness
in Western countries from a death sentence to a chronic
disease, but doctors have been concerned about long-term
impact.

The treatments consist of drugs that interrupt the life
cycle of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in different
ways, allowing the creation of cocktails which fight the
rapidly mutating virus on several fronts at once.

HIV destroys the immune system and leaves the body
vulnerable to a variety of life-threatening diseases, so-called
opportunistic infections, such as tuberculosis.

The scientists studied more than 3,200 patients involved in
a Swiss study after January 1996 when HAART first became
available in Switzerland.

They compared the impact on patients of HAART, with dual
therapy and no drug treatment. The results are reported in the
Lancet medical journal.

“The very large benefits of HAART that are achievable in
developed countries should remind us of the urgency of
providing treatment for millions of people who could benefit in
other parts of the world, particularly sub-Saharan Africa,”
said Sterne.

About 39 million people worldwide are living with HIV/AIDS.
Sub-Saharan Africa is the worst affected region.

About 1 million of the 6 million people in poor countries
who need the life-saving drugs are receiving them, according to
the World Health Organization.

It had hoped to have 3 million people on treatment by the
end of 2005 but admitted in June it would not meet the target.