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Two popular HIV drugs, Didanosine and Abacavir, may increase the risk of heart attacks, report European researchers Wednesday. Based on this study, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is now conducting a new safety review for the possible risks of both drugs.
Although long-term use of these drugs have raised major concern, many HIV patients take a mix of antiretroviral drugs – a nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor and a protease inhibitor – such as the Didanosine and Abacavir.
“We have investigated a number of drugs used to treat HIV patients for whether they are associated with an altered risk of having a heart attack. We have identified [that] two of those drugs were indeed associated with an increased risk of a heart attack,” said Dr. Jens Lundgren, lead researcher of the Denmark University of Copenhagen.
The study involved 33,347 HIV patients who took part in the Data Collection on Adverse Events of Anti-HIV Drugs study. The researchers looked into a possible connection between heart attacks and HIV medications that are being used today.
“The actual risk of having a heart attack when using these drugs varies whether a patient already has underlying risks for heart attack,” Lundgren added.
Published in the online edition of “The Lancet” Wednesday, Lundgren reported that if a person is already at risk of having a heart attack uses Abacavir or Didanosine, his or her risk will increase by 38 percent, but if an HIV patient has a small underlying risk of heart attack, then the risk would only be increased slightly.
The study revealed that patients who stopped using both the Abacavir and Didanosine reduced their risk for heart attacks within six months. Other HIV drugs, specifically nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors, were not found any link to an increased risk for heart attacks. These drugs include Zidovudine, Lamivudine and Stavudine.
Based on the data from Data Collection on Adverse Events of Anti-HIV Drugs, the FDA said it was conducting a safety review of both drugs.
“FDA continues to evaluate the overall risks and benefits of abacavir and didanosine. This evaluation may result in the need to revise labeling for the products. Until this evaluation is complete, health-care providers should evaluate the potential risks and benefits of each HIV-1 antiretroviral drug their patients are taking, including abacavir and didanosine,” said an FDA in a statement.
