(Reuters) -The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday resistance to GSK’s HIV drug dolutegravir has exceeded levels observed during its trials, citing observational and survey data received from a few countries.
Resistance ranged from 3.9% to 8.6% and reached 19.6% among people who have received and transitioned to a dolutegravir-containing antiretroviral therapy (ART) regimen to combat high HIV viral loads.
HIV medicines reduce the amount of the virus in the body to a very low level and helps prevent illness.
The agency did not disclose the number of countries from where the data was reported. GSK did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Only Haiti reported survey data to the WHO for HIV drug resistance among infants who have not received the therapy or infants starting it.
The global health agency said there have been cases of resistance to a class of HIV drugs known as integrase-strand transfer inhibitors in patients who took the injectible version of an HIV preventive drug called cabotegravir or CAB-LA.
Cabotegravir, also made by GSK, is sold under the brand name Cabenuva.
The WHO recommended that countries routinely implement standardized surveillance of resistance to HIV drugs, which could help understand the patterns of resistance among people not achieving a suppressed viral load.
The agency has been recommending the use of dolutegravir as the preferred first- and second-line HIV treatment for all population groups since 2018.
It has recommended use of long-acting injectable cabotegravir as an additional treatment for those at substantial risk of HIV infection since 2022.
(Reporting by Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the Reuters news service. ThePrint holds no responsibilty for its content.