Ac. Collier et al., LACK OF EFFECT ON SURVIVAL OF HIGH-DOSE ACYCLOVIR AND ZIDOVUDINE COMPARED WITH ZIDOVUDINE ALONE FOR ACQUIRED-IMMUNODEFICIENCY-SYNDROME, Antiviral therapy, 3(1), 1998, pp. 25-32
To evaluate the effect of acyclovir on survival of adults with moderat
ely advanced human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection, a
randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study was conducted. A to
tal of 334 adults with AIDS or a CD4 cell count less than 200 cells/mm
(3) were assigned to acyclovir 4 g per day or placebo, combined with z
idovudine 500 mg per day. Characteristics of enrollees and duration of
follow-up were similar in each treatment group. One-hundred and six p
atients died. No differences in survival were seen between treatment g
roups in any analyses, including intent-to-treat analyses and explorat
ory analyses censoring data after study therapy was discontinued, or i
n the subset of enrollees with CD4 cell counts less than 100 cells/mm(
3) or less than 50 cells/mm(3) .Types and time to first AIDS-defining
diseases were similar in both groups. There were significantly fewer e
pisodes of varicella-zoster virus (P<0.0001) and herpes simplex virus
(P=0.0001) infection in patients assigned to acyclovir/zidovudine than
to zidovudine alone. Both regimens had similar tolerability. These da
ta do not support routine use of acyclovir as a treatment for HIV-1 in
fection.