Once-Daily HIV Medicine Reyataz(R) (atazanavir) Now Available In One 300mg Capsule, UK

Main Category: HIV / AIDS
Article Date: 08 May 2008 - 1:00 PDT

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Reyataz® (atazanavir), the only protease inhibitor approved in the UK for once-daily dosing, is now available as a single 300mg capsule. It is hoped that the new capsule will reduce pill burden for patients with the aim of making treatment simpler and more convenient. Simplified treatment regimens, including once-daily dosing and a reduced pill burden, are important to help patients stay on therapy and crucially adherence has been shown to be significantly better in those patients taking once-daily therapy,1 as compared to twice-daily regimens.1 Reyataz® is also available in 150mg and 200mg capsules and will still need to be boosted with 100mg ritonavir.

Atazanavir, boosted with ritonavir, is currently licensed for the treatment of HIV-1 infected, antiretroviral treatment-experienced adults, in combination with other antiretroviral medicinal products. The single 300mg atazanavir capsule, equivalent to a daily dose of ataznavir, was shown to be bioequivalent to two 150mg atazanavir capsules in a study presented at the 11th European AIDS Conference in October 2007.2

Dr Mark Nelson commented "the availability of once-daily Reyataz is a real boost for patients receiving atazanavir. As well as making the regimen much simpler for patients to accept, it also addresses adherence issues. Adherence to treatment is a major problem in the treatment of HIV as missed treatments often lead to patients developing resistance. This can mean patients may have to change drugs, leading to reduced options for future treatment."

Bristol-Myers Squibb is a global biopharmaceutical and related health care products company whose mission is to extend and enhance human life.

http://www.b-ms.co.uk, http://www.bms.com

REYATAZ®(atazanair) is a registered trademark of Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Important Information About Atazanavir

In the UK, atazanavir with ritonavir is indicated for the treatment of HIV-1 infected, antiretroviral treatment-experienced adults, in combination with other antiretroviral medicinal products.3 In antiretroviral treatment-experienced patients, the demonstration of efficacy is based on study AI424-045 which compared atazanavir 300 mg once daily in combination with ritonavir 100 mg once daily with lopinavir/ritonavir, each regimen in combination with tenofovir and one NRTI. Based on available virological and clinical data, no benefit is expected in patients with strains resistant to multiple protease inhibitors (≥ 4 PI mutations). The choice of atazanavir should be based on individual viral resistance testing and the patient's treatment history.3

References

1. Pulido F et al. Once-daily antiretroviral therapy: Spanish consensus statement. Journal of antimicrobial Chemotherapy. 2005. 56:808-818

2. Zhu L et al. Atazanavir 300mg capsule equivalent to two atazanavir 150mg capsules. Poster presented at 11th European AIDS conference. October 2007.

3. Reyataz Summary of Product Characteristics, May, 2007 (accessible at http://www.medicines.org.uk)

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