Drug Racing: Gene tied to HIV-drug response
By Ben Harder
A genetic mutation seven times as common in blacks as in whites increases the odds that people taking a common HIV medicine will suffer side effects that lead them to halt the treatment. Because the mutation slows metabolism of the drug efavirenz, patients of either race who have the genetic trait might be better off receiving, from the start of therapy, only a low dose of efavirenz, says David W. Haas of Vanderbilt University in Nashville.
Efavirenz is commonly a component of drug cocktails used to fight HIV, but it can cause neurological problems such as disturbing dreams and dizziness. Haas and his colleagues, including Heather Ribaudo of the Harvard School of Public Heath in Boston, investigated several factors that might predict an individual’s response to efavirenz.