Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2010 Mar 3:6:83-94.
doi: 10.2147/tcrm.s1657.

Abacavir/lamivudine combination in the treatment of HIV: a review

Geetha Sivasubramanian  1 , Emmanuel Frempong-Manso, Rodger D Macarthur
Affiliations

Abacavir/lamivudine combination in the treatment of HIV: a review

Geetha Sivasubramanian et al. Ther Clin Risk Manag. .

Abstract

Abacavir has been at the center of research and clinical interest in the last two years. The frequency of the associated abacavir hypersensitivity syndrome has decreased substantially since the introduction of routine testing for the HLA-B*5701 allele; the activity of the drug in HIV-infected persons with HIV RNA values more than 100,000 copies/mL has been questioned; the possible increased risk of myocardial infarction after recent exposure to abacavir has been debated; and the drug has been moved from the "recommended" category to the "alternative" category in several guidelines. Still, the drug remains a useful agent in combination with other drugs, including lamivudine, for the treatment of HIV infection. This review will focus on the pharmacokinetics, activity, side effects, and resistance profile of both abacavir and lamivudine, including a thorough review of all of the recent studies relevant to both drugs.

Keywords: HIV; abacavir; lamivudine.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. DHHS Panel on Antiretroviral Guidelines for Adults and Adolescents – A Working Group of the Office of AIDS Research Advisory Council (OARAC) Guidelines for the use of antiretroviral agents in HIV-1 infected adults and adolescents. URL: http://AIDSinfo.nih.govAccessed Nov 3, 2008.
    1. McDowell JA, Chittick GE, Stevens CP, et al. Pharmacokinetics of [(14C)] abacavir, a human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV) reverse transcriptase inhibitor, administered in a single oral dose to HIV-1-infected adults: a mass balance study. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 1999;43:2855–2861. - PMC - PubMed
    1. McDowell JA, Lou Y, Symonds WS, Stein DS. Multiple-dose pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of abacavir alone and in combination with zidovudine in human immunodeficiency virus-infected adults. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2000;44:2061–2067. - PMC - PubMed
    1. van Praag RM, van Heeswijk RP, Jurriaans S, et al. Penetration of the nucleoside analogue abacavir into the genital tract of men infected with human immunodeficiency virus Type 1. Clin Infect Dis. 2001;33:e91–e92. - PubMed
    1. Lamarca A, Clumeck N, Plettenberg A, et al. Efficacy and safety of a once-daily fixed-dose combination of abacavir/lamivudine compared with abacavir twice daily and lamivudine once daily as separate entities in antiretroviral-experienced HIV-1-infected patients (CAL 30001 Study) J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2006;41:598–606. - PubMed