Emtricitabine

Switching to bictegravir/emtricitabine/tenofovir was safe and effective, resulting in sustained viral suppression among people living with HIV, according research presented at the HIV Glasgow virtual meeting.

Findings from a pooled analysis of eight randomized controlled clinical trials showed that weight gain is “ubiquitous” in treatment-naive patients with HIV who initiate ART, and that it can be impacted by demographic factors such as race and gender, HIV-related factors, and the type of ART regimen, researchers reported.

The FDA has approved Descovy as a second option for HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, in at-risk adults and adolescents. The approval excludes patients who have receptive vaginal intercourse due to a lack of efficacy data in this population, the agency said.

Healio spoke with Douglas Krakower, MD, from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, about increasing the use of PrEP, potential downsides to the medication, a newly approved drug to reduce HIV infection and the future of HIV prevention.

Measuring the concentration of tenofovir in a patient’s urine can determine their recent adherence to pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, for HIV prevention or tenofovir-based ART, according to findings from the Tenofovir Adherence to Rapidly Guide and Evaluate PrEP and HIV Therapy, or TARGET, study.

Findings from two phase 3 trials published in The New England Journal of Medicine demonstrated that dolutegravir-based treatment for HIV is noninferior to efavirenz-based regimens, although dolutegravir was associated with excessive weight gain in both studies.

The fixed-dose combination tablet of elvitegravir, cobicistat, emtricitabine and tenofovir alafenamide (E/C/F/TAF) demonstrated “encouraging” results in a post-hoc analysis of patients with HIV and renal impairment, some of whom had diabetes, according to David K. Stein, MD, of Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Jacobi Medical Center, both in the Bronx, NY.

In this video, Donna Sweet, MD, a professor of internal medicine at the University of Kansas Medical School-Wichita, discusses the latest developments from the International AIDS Conference 2024, including the major PURPOSE study.