The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has given the green light to Triumeq, ViiV Healthcare’s single-tablet, triple-combination antiretroviral (ARV) regimen, as a first-line therapy to treat HIV. The tablet is made up of the integrase inhibitor Tivicay (dolutegravir) plus Epzicom (abacavir and lamivudine) and is the first single-tablet regimen to hit the market that does not include Viread (tenofovir).

Christian Takayama, MD, an HIV specialist at the AIDS Project Los Angeles Health and Wellness Center, says that by avoiding tenofovir, a drug which can harm the kidneys, Triumeq is “a good option for people who couldn’t take all those combination pills in the past because of their kidney function.”

Before starting on Triumeq, people with HIV should take a test called the HLA-B*5701 genetic screen, otherwise known as the abacavir hypersensitivity reaction test, which tells if someone is likely to develop a kind of allergic reaction to the abacavir component of the tablet.