Researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have found that the antiretroviral drugs, dolutegravir and emtricitabine/ tenofovir alafenamide fumurate (DTG+FTC/TAF), may comprise the safest and most effective HIV treatment regimen currently available during pregnancy.

The findings come from a multinational study of more than 640 pregnant women with HIV across 4 continents.

Previous research has demonstrated that antiretroviral therapy (ART) to suppress HIV prevents perinatal transmission of the virus and benefits the health of both mother and child. In the current study, 3 ART regimens were compared, showing that the regimens containing DTG were more effective in suppressing HIV than a commonly used regimen containing efavirenz (EFV).