Stribild in HIV shows lesser benefit for treatment-naive patients, says IQWiG

In an early benefit assessment pursuant to the Act on the Reform of the Market for Medicinal Products (AMNOG), the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) examined whether an added benefit is proven for the drug combination of elvitegravir, cobicistat, emtricitabine and tenofovir disoproxil (elvitegravir fixed combination, trade name: Stribild) over the current standard therapy for HIV.

This is not the case: No informative data are available for pre-treated patients, and for treatment-naive patients, the disadvantages predominate. Particularly, AIDS-defining illnesses and serious side effects occur more frequently than with the appropriate comparator therapy, said the IQWiG.

Stribild, developed and marketed by US biotech firm Gilead Sciences (Nasdaq: GILD) has been approved in Germany since May 2013 for the treatment of adults infected with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1).