Elsevier

The Lancet HIV

Volume 3, Issue 12, December 2016, Pages e561-e568
The Lancet HIV

Articles
Safety, efficacy, and pharmacokinetics of a single-tablet regimen containing elvitegravir, cobicistat, emtricitabine, and tenofovir alafenamide in treatment-naive, HIV-infected adolescents: a single-arm, open-label trial

https://doi.org/10.1016/S2352-3018(16)30121-7Get rights and content

Summary

Background

The prodrug tenofovir alafenamide is associated with improved renal and bone safety compared with tenofovir disoproxil fumarate. We aimed to assess safety, pharmacokinetics, and efficacy of this single-tablet, fixed-dose combination of elvitegravir, cobicistat, emtricitabine, and tenofovir alafenamide in HIV-infected, treatment-naive adolescents.

Methods

We did a 48 week, single-arm, open-label trial in treatment-naive adolescents with HIV from ten hospital clinics in South Africa, Thailand, Uganda, and the USA. Eligible participants were aged 12–18 years, with plasma HIV-1 RNA of at least 1000 copies per mL, a CD4 count of at least 100 cells per μL, and estimated glomerular filtration rate of at least 90 mL/min per 1·73 m2 by the Schwartz formula, bodyweight of at least 35 kg, and an HIV-1 genotype with sensitivity to elvitegravir, emtricitabine, and tenofovir. Participants received a single-tablet regimen once per day with food (administered by their parent or carer) containing 150 mg elvitegravir, 150 mg cobicistat, 200 mg emtricitabine, and 10 mg tenofovir alafenamide. Study visits to the clinic occurred at weeks 1, 2, 4, 8, 12, 16, 24, 32, 40, and 48. The coprimary endpoints were the pharmacokinetic parameters of area under the curve (AUC) concentration at the end of the dosing interval (AUCtau) for elvitegravir and the AUC from time zero to the last quantifiable concentration (AUClast) for tenofovir alafenamide, incidence of treatment-emergent serious adverse events, and all adverse events that emerged after treatment started (including data for bone mineral density). All participants who received one dose of study drug were included in the primary and safety analyses. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT01854775.

Findings

Between May 22, 2013, and July 22, 2014, we enrolled 50 participants, and all 50 received the assigned treatment; 24 participated in the intensive pharmacokinetic assessment. 48 patients completed the 48 weeks of treatment; two discontinued (one withdrew consent at week 8, one was lost to follow-up at week 12). The regimen was well tolerated and no discontinuations related to adverse events occurred. The mean AUCtau for elvitegravir was 23 840 ng × h per mL (coefficient of variation [CV] 25·5%), and the mean AUClast for tenofovir alafenamide was 189 ng × h per mL (CV 55·8%). Four participants (8%) had a serious adverse event, one of which (intermediate uveitis) was deemed related to the study regimen but resolved without treatment interruption. The most common study drug-related adverse events were nausea (in ten participants), abdominal pain (in six), and vomiting (in five). Exposures to the elvitegravir, cobicistat, emtricitabine, and tenofovir alafenamide regimen were similar to those previously noted in adults.

Interpretation

The elvitegravir, cobicistat, emtricitabine, and tenofovir alafenamide regimen was well tolerated and achieved component plasma pharmacokinetic exposures similar to those in adults. Although non-comparative with a small sample size, these data support the use of this regimen in HIV-infected adolescents and its timely assessment in younger children.

Funding

Gilead Sciences.

Introduction

In the USA in 2014, 22% of all new HIV infections occurred in people aged 13–24 years.1 Additionally, the cohort of children getting older who are infected by vertical transmission adds to the pool of HIV-infected youth. Adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) can be challenging for adolescents;2, 3 because poor adherence can increase their risk of drug resistance and virological failure,4 single-tablet, once-daily HIV-treatment regimens5 might address some of their adherence challenges. Before the approval of the elvitegravir, cobicistat, emtricitabine, and tenofovir alafenamide regimen for adolescents in the USA and Europe, the regimen of efavirenz, emtricitabine, and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate was the only available one-pill, once-daily option for adolescents in the USA, and no such options were available in Europe.6, 7

Research in context

Evidence before this study

The novel prodrug tenofovir alafenamide achieves high intracellular concentrations while maintaining 91% lower concentrations of plasma tenofovir than tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, and is associated with better renal and bone safety. We searched PubMed for randomised clinical trials of tenofovir alafenamide in HIV-1 infected individuals, with search terms including “tenofovir alafenamide”, “HIV”, and “randomised” or “randomized”. We limited searches to articles published in English between Jan 1, 1997, and May 31, 2016. The search yielded eight articles, but we excluded two because they described short-term, proof-of-concept, monotherapy studies. Four articles summarised week 48 or 96 data from clinical trials in treatment-naive adults (phase 2 and 3 trials comparing single-tablet regimens of elvitegravir, cobicistat, emtricitabine, and either tenofovir alafenamide or tenofovir disoproxil fumarate; and a phase 2 trial comparing darunavir, cobicistat, emtricitabine, and either tenofovir alafenamide or tenofovir disoproxil fumarate); one summarised a trial with virologically suppressed adults (phase 3 comparing elvitegravir, cobicistat, emtricitabine, and tenofovir alafenamide vs tenofovir disoproxil fumarate-containing regimens); and one summarised a trial in adults with renal impairments (a phase 3, single-arm assessment of elvitegravir, cobicistat, emtricitabine, and tenofovir alafenamide). The results from these studies showed that tenofovir alafenamide is as effective as tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, but is safer from the standpoint of renal and bone toxicity, as assessed by estimated glomerular filtration rate, quantitative urinary protein, and bone mineral density. The PubMed search did not generate any reports of trials of tenofovir alafenamide in adolescent patients.

Added value of this study

Our 48 week, phase 2/3, single-arm, open-label trial investigated the safety, efficacy, and pharmacokinetics of elvitegravir, cobicistat, emtricitabine, and tenofovir alafenamide in treatment-naive adolescents aged 12 to younger than 18 years, and is the first clinical trial to assess a single-tablet regimen containing tenofovir alafenamide in a paediatric cohort. The results were consistent with findings in adults, showing greater than 90% efficacy (as measured by virological suppression to <50 copies of HIV-1 RNA/mL) at week 48, no study drug discontinuations because of adverse events, improvement in total and tubular proteinuria compared to baseline, and positive gains in bone mineral density in spine and total body less head at week 48. Although ours was a small, non-comparative study of 50 adolescents, it provided the important evidence that led to the recent approval of elvitegravir, cobicistat, emtricitabine, and tenofovir alafenamide for this age group. This regulatory pathway is similar to that of dolutegravir, also approved in adolescents based on a small, non-comparative study (n=23). Such study designs are consistent with, and responsive, to HIV paediatric regulatory guidance from the European Union and USA, which allow extrapolation of adult efficacy data.

Implications of all the available evidence

Elvitegravir, cobicistat, emtricitabine, and tenofovir alafenamide is a promising single-tablet regimen for HIV with proven efficacy and safety in several populations, now including treatment-naive, HIV-infected adolescents who might especially benefit from an improved bone safety profile during a period of peak bone growth and development. Results from this trial have led to the approval of elvitegravir, cobicistat, emtricitabine, and tenofovir alafenamide in HIV-infected children aged 12 years and older in several countries, and its selection by the US Department of Health and Human Services paediatric HIV treatment guidelines panel as a preferred first-line regimen for adolescents. The study results also support further assessment of regimens containing tenofovir alafenamide in clinical trials of HIV-infected children younger than 12 years.

Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, one of the most commonly used nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTI), is associated with nephrotoxicity and reduced bone mineral density.8, 9, 10 Because of concerns about associated bone toxicity, this drug is generally not considered for first-line NRTI treatment for prepubertal adolescents.4 Tenofovir alafenamide is also an oral prodrug of tenofovir, but compared with tenofovir disoproxil fumarate it is more stable in plasma and is associated with a higher intracellular concentration of the active phosphorylated metabolite tenofovir diphosphate and approximately 90% lower circulating tenofovir,11 favourable pharmacokinetic characteristics that offer the potential for a better safety profile than tenofovir disoproxil fumarate.12, 13

Findings from phase 3 clinical trials2, 14 in HIV-infected adults randomly assigned to either elvitegravir, cobicistat, emtricitabine, and tenofovir alafenamide or a regimen based on tenofovir disoproxil fumarate showed that tenofovir alafenamide was associated with less bone and renal toxicity than was tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, but otherwise, general safety profiles and efficacy were similar. Findings in adolescents from another study15 to week 24 were consistent with those in adults. These data led to the US and European approval of the first fixed-dose combination containing tenofovir alafenamide (elvitegravir, cobicistat, emtricitabine, and tenofovir alafenamide) in adults and adolescents, which is now a recommended initial regimen by the US Department of Health and Human Services guidelines for ART-naive patients with an estimated creatinine clearance of at least 30 mL/min.16 In this study, we aimed to investigate the safety, efficacy, and pharmacokinetics of this combination in treatment-naive adolescents.

Section snippets

Study design and participants

We did an open-label, single-arm, two-part trial. We enrolled participants from ten hospital clinics in South Africa (two sites), Thailand (three), Uganda (one), and the USA (four). The trial protocol, amendments and other documents were reviewed and approved by independent ethics committees or institutional review boards.

Eligibility criteria included being treatment naive, HIV-1 infected individuals aged 12–18 years, plasma HIV-1 RNA 1000 copies per mL or higher, CD4 count 100 cells per μL or

Results

Between May 22, 2013, and July 22, 2014, we screened 63 participants and enrolled 50 (figure 1), of whom 24 participated in the intensive pharmacokinetic assessment. 13 were excluded because they were ineligible. This report includes data up to August, 2015, by which time all enrollees had either completed their week 48 visit or discontinued the study drug. At baseline, four participants (8·0%) had CD4 counts of less than 200 cells per μL, and most participants had been infected by vertical

Discussion

The elvitegravir, cobicistat, emtricitabine, and tenofovir alafenamide regimen was well tolerated and achieved component plasma pharmacokinetic exposures similar to those in adults. Although non-comparative with a small sample size, these data support the use of this regimen in HIV-infected adolescents and its timely assessment in younger children.

The results of this ongoing, single-arm study in HIV-1-infected, treatment-naive adolescents through week 48 showed that the elvitegravir,

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