Early Tx for Infants with HIV Beats Waiting

For neonates with HIV, early treatment followed by a drug holiday yielded better results than deferring treatment until it was medically necessary, researchers reported.

In a randomized, open-label study, children in the programmed therapy interruption arms were significantly less likely to die or to have treatment failure than those on deferred therapy, according to Mark Cotton, MD, PhD, of Stellenbosch University in Tygerberg, South Africa.

They were also significantly less likely to have HIV disease progression, Cotton and colleagues reported online in The Lancet.

The so-called CHER (children with HIV early antiretroviral) trial enrolled infants with HIV but without symptoms and randomly assigned them to deferred treatment or to therapy for either 40 or 96 weeks, after which it would be stopped until starting again became medically necessary.

Michael Smith
MedPage Today
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During the Canada Post strike announced September 25, 2025, the following measures will be undertaken to minimize service disruption to BC-CfE clients and providers.

  • The BC-CfE Laboratory has transitioned to private courier for delivery of outgoing reports and documents. Results required urgently can be faxed upon request. (Lab Contact Information: Phone 604-806-8775; FAX 604-806-9463)
  • The BC-CfE Drug Treatment Program (DTP) will fax outgoing forms and documents to the provider’s office. (DTP Contact Information: Phone 604-806-8515; FAX 604-806-9044)
  • St. Paul’s Hospital Ambulatory Pharmacy has transitioned to private courier for delivery of medications. We recommend requesting medication at least 2 weeks in advance in case of delivery delays, particularly to rural/remote parts of BC. (Contact Information: Phone 1-800-547-3622; FAX 604-806-8675)

During the Canada Post strike, we recommend that documents be faxed or couriered to our sites, versus utilization of regular mail service

The BC-CfE Laboratory is streamlining reporting processes for certain tests in order to simplify distribution and record-keeping, and to ensure completeness of results. Beginning September 2, 2025, results for the ‘Resistance Analysis of HIV-1 Protease and Reverse Transcriptase’ (Protease-RT) and ‘HIV-1 Integrase Resistance Genotype’ tests will be combined into a single ‘HIV-1 Resistance Genotype Report’.
For more details and example reports, please click on the button below

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