Background: Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) was developed for the treatment of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. However, controlled data are sparse on the long-term renal tolerability of TDF at the currently approved daily dose of 300 mg in treatment-naive HIV-infected patients.
Methods: Over 144 weeks, this 600 patient, multicentre randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial compared stavudine (301 patients) and TDF (299 patients), both administered in combination with lamivudine and efavirenz, in antiretroviral-naive patients. TDF or placebo and stavudine or placebo were administered in an open-label fashion. All medications were taken orally. At screening, all patients had serum creatinines <1.5 mg/dl, calculated creatinine clearances > or =60 ml/min and a serum phosphorus > or =2.2 mg/dl.
Results: The incidences of grades 1 (> or =0.5 mg/dl increase from baseline), 2 (2.1-3.0 mg/dl) and 3 (3.1-6.0 mg/dl) serum creatinine elevations at week 144 were 4, <1 and 0%, respectively, in the TDF group and 2, 0 and <1% in the stavudine control group (P = NS). There were no grade 4 (>6 mg/dl) serum creatinine elevations. At week 144, there was no change from baseline in the mean (0.83 mg/dl) serum creatinine in the TDF group compared with a 0.1 mg/dl decrease from baseline (0.83 mg/dl) in the stavudine control group. The incidences of grades 1 (2.0-2.2 mg/dl), 2 (1.5-1.9 mg/dl) and 3 (1.0-1.4 mg/dl) hypophosphataemia at week 144 were 4, 3 and <1%, respectively, in the TDF group and 4, 2 and <1% in the control group (P = NS). No patient experienced grade 4 (<1.0 mg/dl) hypophosphataemia. At week 144, the decrease (Delta) of mean serum phosphorus levels from baseline in both groups was similar (Delta 0.2 from 3.6 mg/dl for the TDF group, and 0.1 from 3.5 mg/dl for the stavudine control group). No patient developed Fanconi's syndrome or proximal renal tubular dysfunction during the study.
Conclusion: Through 144 weeks, TDF and stavudine, each administered in combination with efavirenz and lamivudine, had similar renal safety profiles in treatment-naive HIV-infected patients with normal renal function at baseline.