The World Health Organization—WHO had on Tuesday said that resistance to GSK’s HIV drug dolutegravir has surpassed levels seen during its trials, citing observational and survey data received from a few countries.
The resistance ranged from 3.9% to 8.6% and reached 19.6% among people who have gotten and transitioned to a dolutegravir-containing antiretroviral therapy (ART) regimen to fight high HIV viral loads.
HIV medicines limit the amount of the virus in the body to a very low level and helps bar illness.
The agency had not revealed the number of countries from where the data was reported and GSK had not immediately responded to request for comment.
Only Haiti reported survey data to the WHO for HIV drug resistance among infants who have not yet received the therapy or infants just starting it.
The global health agency said there have been cases of resistance to a class of HIV drugs called the integrase-strand transfer inhibitors in patients who took the injectable version of an HIV preventive drug named cabotegravir or CAB-LA.
Cabotegravir, also manufactured by GSK, is marketed under the brand name Cabenuva.
The WHO recommended that countries constantly enforce standardized surveillance of resistance to HIV drugs, which could help to grasp the patterns of resistance among people not achieving a stifled viral load.
The agency has been an advocate for the use of dolutegravir as the preferred first- and second-line HIV treatment for all population groups since 2018.
It also recommended the use of long-acting injectable cabotegravir as an extra treatment for those at potential risk of HIV infection since 2022.
