Treatment with amprenavir alone or amprenavir with zidovudine and lamivudine in adults with human immunodeficiency virus infection

Amprenavir is a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) protease inhibitor with a favorable pharmacokinetic profile and good in vitro activity. Ninety- two lamivudine- and protease inhibitor-naive individuals with ≥50 CD4 cells/mm³ and ≥5000 HIV RNA copies/mL were assigned amprenavir (1200 mg) alone or with zidovudine (300 mg) plus lamivudine (150 mg), all given every 12 h. After a median follow-up of 88 days, the findings of a planned interim review resulted in termination of the amprenavir monotherapy arm. Among 85 subjects with confirmed plasma HIV RNA determination, 15 of 42 monotherapy versus 1 of 43 tripletherapy subjects had an HIV RNA increase above baseline or 1 log₁₀ above nadir (P = .0001). For subjects taking triple therapy at 24 weeks, the median decrease in HIV RNA was 2.04 log₁₀ copies/mL, and 17 (63%) of 27 evaluable subjects had <500 HIV RNA copies/mL. Treatment with amprenavir, zidovudine, and lamivudine together reduced the levels of HIV RNA significantly more than did amprenavir monotherapy.