d4T bests AZT in sales
Bristol-Myers Squibb's flagship
nucleoside analogue d4T (Zerit) slipped past its main rival, Glaxo
Wellcome's AZT (Retrovir), in the race for U.S. sales for the first
time ever last winter, according to IMS America market researchers.
Said the AIDS Treatment Data Network's Rich Jefferys, "It's because
d4T is better tolerated, and there's growing concern about
resistance to AZT."
Big news at February's Retrovirus Conference was that the Glaxo
dinosaur may sabotage future anti-HIV regimens. A study showed that
in people not previously on AZT, d4T reduced viral loads by 95
percent, while d4Ters already AZT treated had decreases of 70
percent or less. Another confab report confirmed a year-long
community buzz: That the combo of BMS's d4T and Glaxo's 3TC is at
least as potent as Combivir -- aka AZT/3TC -- the company's new
adherence-friendly two-in-one. So what are the odds of a single
d4T/3TC pill? That combo may well be, as Glaxo's glossy purrs,
"smarter together."