International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics

A new study has backed up the World Health Organisation's (WHO) recommendations that nevirapine-based therapies are an affordable and effective option for the treatment of HIV in countries with limited resources.

The research by scientists at Harvard School of Public Health trialled 500 HIV-infected African women who had not previously had access to antiretroviral treatment.

It randomized half or the population to take nevirapine while the other 50 per cent received the more expensive lopinavir/ritonavir option.

Results found that a similar number of women in each group died and both types of drug were equally effective at controlling the virus.

However, 14 per cent of patients in the nevirapine group stopped treatment due to side effects while none of the lopinavir/ritonavir group took such action.

"Our findings suggest that nevirapine, with careful early toxicity monitoring, remains an acceptable choice for first-line antiretroviral therapy in resource limited settings," stated the authors.

According to the WHO, in 2010 seven million people were waiting for access to antiretroviral drugs in low and middle-income countries.

Posted by Carla Mackenzie