Twice-Daily Triple Nucleoside Intensification Treatment with Lamivudine-Zidovudine plus Abacavir Sustains Suppression of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1: Results of the TARGET Study

This open-label, multicenter, single-arm clinical trial assessed the 48-week efficacy of a twice-daily triple nucleoside reverse-transcriptase inhibitor regimen containing a lamivudine (150 mg)—zidovudine (300 mg) combination tablet (COM) and abacavir (ABC; 300 mg) in 87 antiretroviral therapy-experienced, protease inhibitor—naive patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). At baseline, the median plasma HIV-1 RNA level was 3.10 log 10 copies/mL, and the median CD4 cell count was 506 cells/mm 3 . An intent-to-treat: observed analysis showed that, at weeks 24 and 48 of treatment, HIV-1 RNA level was <400 copies/mL in 48 (76%) of 63 and 45 (82%) of 55 patients, respectively, and <50 copies/mL in 37 (59%) of 63 and 31 (56%) of 55 patients, respectively. Previous zidovudine or lamivudine use and presence at baseline of the M184V reverse-transcriptase mutation did not impact virologic response. Median CD4 cell counts were maintained above baseline throughout the study. COM plus ABC was generally well tolerated.