Combined bictegravir, emtricitabine and tenofovir alafenamide for treating people with HIV: a plain language summary of the BICSTaR study up to 1 year

• Published in: Future microbiology Vol. 19; no. 15; p. 1273
• Main Authors: Esser, Stefan, Inciarte, Alexy, Levy, Itzchak, D'Arminio Monforte, Antonella, Lambert, John S, van Welzen, Berend, Teruya, Katsuji, Boffito, Marta, Liu, Chun-Eng, Aydın, Ozlem A, Thorpe, David, Heinzkill, Marion, Marongiu, Andrea, Cassidy, Tali, Haubrich, Richard, D'Amato, Lisa, Robineau, Olivier
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 12.10.2024
• Subjects: Adenine - analogs & derivatives; Adenine - therapeutic use; Adult; Alanine - analogs & derivatives; Alanine - therapeutic use; Amides; Anti-HIV Agents - therapeutic use; Drug Combinations; Emtricitabine - therapeutic use; Female; Heterocyclic Compounds, 3-Ring - therapeutic use; Heterocyclic Compounds, 4 or More Rings - therapeutic use; HIV Infections - drug therapy; HIV Infections - virology; Humans; Male; Piperazines - therapeutic use; Pyridones - therapeutic use; Tenofovir - analogs & derivatives; Tenofovir - therapeutic use; Viral Load - drug effects; HIV medicine; treatment-naïve; real-world data; treatment-experienced; lay language summary; Antiretroviral therapy; plain language summary
• ISSN: 1746-0921
• DOI: 10.1080/17460913.2024.2391190

This is a summary of an article about an ongoing study called the BICSTaR study.The BICSTaR study includes people with HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) who are taking a medicine called bictegravir/emtricitabine/tenofovir alafenamide (shortened to B/F/TAF). B/F/TAF is a single tablet that contains 3 different drugs for the treatment of HIV. The drugs work together to reduce the levels of HIV so that the virus can no longer be detected by a blood test.People taking part in the study are adults with HIV living in Europe, Canada, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan. People take 1 tablet of B/F/TAF once a day. They are either taking B/F/TAF as their first treatment for HIV, or they have switched to B/F/TAF from another HIV treatment.Researchers looked at how well B/F/TAF worked and how safe it was in people who took B/F/TAF for a year. Researchers found that B/F/TAF worked well in almost all people in the study by reducing levels of HIV in the blood. The virus could not be found in the blood of more than 9 out of 10 (94%) people who were taking B/F/TAF as their first HIV medicine and more than 9 out of 10 people (97%) who had taken another HIV medicine before starting B/F/TAF. This is known as having an 'undetectable viral load' and is a major goal for HIV treatment success. Researchers did not find any evidence of HIV developing resistance to B/F/TAF, which might stop B/F/TAF from working properly.Around 1 out of 10 people (13%) had side effects (any unwanted sign or symptom that people have when taking a medicine that researchers think might be caused by the medicine) that might have been caused by B/F/TAF. Most of these side effects were not classified as serious. Less than 1 out of 100 (0.1%) people had serious side effects that might have been caused by B/F/TAF. Only 6 out of 100 people stopped taking B/F/TAF due to side effects caused by B/F/TAF. As a result, more than 9 out of 10 people (95%) took B/F/TAF for at least 1 year. B/F/TAF worked well in people with HIV in this study. Most people (around 9 out of 10) did not have any side effects.