First combination drug approved for AIDS and HIV

FDA Consumer, Jan-Feb, 1998

Approval by FDA of the first

combination drug for treating AIDS and HIV

infection would decrease the number of

pills patients need to take each day.

The new drug, Combivir, combines

AZT (zidovudine) and 3TC

(lamivudine), two drugs commonly

prescribed with one another in "drug

cocktails" as treatment.

Patients take one pill twice a day.

Patients may need to take up to eight pills

a day when taken separately.

AZT and 3TC are members of the

nucleoside analog class of drug compounds,

and both interfere with the replication

of HIV, the virus that causes

AIDS. Side effects of these drugs

include: nausea, diarrhea, anemia, low

white blood cells, pancreatitis, and

neuropathy. Combivir was approved on Sept.

26, 1997, and is manufactured and

marketed by Glaxo Wellcome of Research

Triangle Park, N.C.