TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 17, 2006--New interim 24-week data from an ongoing Phase II dose-ranging study with MK-0518 twice daily (n=198), an investigational oral HIV integrase inhibitor under development by Merck & Co., Inc., Whitehouse Station, N.J., U.S.A., in combination with tenofovir (Viread(R)) and lamivudine (Epivir(R)) showed comparable viral load reduction to below 50 copies/mL of HIV RNA (85 to 95 percent of patients) to efavirenz (Sustiva(R)) once daily combined with the same agents (92 percent). This effect was observed at all four doses of MK-0518 studied (100 mg, 200 mg, 400 mg and 600 mg administered orally twice daily), in treatment naive (previously untreated), HIV-infected patients with documented genotypic susceptibility to tenofovir, lamivudine and efavirenz. Moreover, patients on the MK-0518-based regimen achieved HIV RNA reductions to levels less than 50 copies/mL earlier than patients on the efavirenz-based regimen. These data were presented today at the 16th International AIDS Conference.
