Popular HIV/AIDS Drug Linked to Nerve Disorder, World Health Leaders Say
Stavudine, an antiretroviral drug commonly used to treat HIV and AIDS patients, causes a severe nerve disorder and other serious and permanent side effects, global health officials said today.
As a result of the adverse side effects, the use of stavudine should be phased out in favor of other drugs deemed safer, according to the World Health Organization.
HIV patients taking Stavudine have suffered “long-term, irreversible” side effects associated with the use of the drug, which is also known as d4T and the brand name Zerit. The drug is favored by many doctors in developing nations because it is relatively cheap and easy to use, but concerns about a link to nerve damage and the condition called wasting (or lipoatrophy) may mean its use should end, according to the WHO.
According to a Reuters news report, the WHO has recommended “that countries progressively phase out the use of Stavudine as a preferred first-line therapy option and move to less toxic alternatives such as Zidovudine or Tenofovir,” which are “equally effective alternatives.”
Stavudine has been associated with long-term effects since at least 2006, when the WHO first advised countries about the risks and said the drug should be dropped from HIV and AIDS treatment programs. More than four million people worldwide take antiretrovirals and about half include the use of stavudine, officials said.
About 33.4 million people worldwide, including two thirds in sub-Saharan Africa, are infected with the AIDS virus, according to a recent United Nations report.
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