New One Pill Option for HIV Stribild-How Does it Compare to Reyataz?

This week I’m writing about Stribild, a new one pill per day treatment for HIV that contains four medications.

One of the questions on everyone’s mind is, “Does it work as well as the other medications?  Is it better?”

Yesterday I compared Stribild to Atripla.  Today I’m comparing Stribild to a Reyatza regimen that included Norvir and Truvada, a common regimen for HIV.  Reyataz and Norvir with Truvada is also a preferred treatment according to DHHS recommendations.

The other one pill per day treatment for HIV is Complera.  I have blogged about Complera previously.

In another study presented at CROI in 2012, a big US conference on HIV and related infections, Edwin DeJesus and colleagues compared Stribild to Reyataz/Norvir plus Truvada.  The study enrolled 708 participants.

Both Reyataz and Stribild performed equally well through 48 weeks.  The conclusion of the study was that Stribild demonstrated non-inferior efficacy to Reyataz, meaning it worked as well as Reyataz.   Both regimens were generally safe and well-tolerated, with similar proportions discontinuing due to adverse effects.

More people on Reyataz developed elevated bilirubin, but this is a recognized side effect of Reyataz that is considered harmless.

So compared to a Reyataz-containing regimen, Stribild worked as well with similar adverse effects, and is very well tolerated.  The main advantage would be one tablet daily with Stribild compared to three tablets daily for the Reyataz, Norvir, and Truvada regimen.

So if you were on a Reyataz-containing regimen, would you switch to one pill Stribild?

Tomorrow we’ll take a look at some precautions to consider before you start Stribild.

Yours,

Bill