AZT plus 3TC produces best results to date

According to two European clinical trials, antiretroviral therapy with AZT and lamivudine (3TC) shows long-lasting improvements in surrogate markers such as T-cell counts and viral load compared to any combination therapy studied to date. The studies assessed only laboratory markers of HIV disease and not clinical endpoints. In the French study, 129 patients who have never received antiretroviral therapy were examined in a 48-week study. Patients receiving the combination gained T-cells over baseline values in comparison to patients receiving only AZT, who lost cells. However, patients who switched to the combination showed an increase of cells above baseline values. A German study tested the combination in 223 patients with previous long-term AZT use. Patients receiving the combination gained cells above baseline values; those taking only AZT declined an average of 27 cells below baseline. The data from these studies is also noteworthy because patients tolerated the therapy well and the effects persisted throughout the study.