Hope After HIV

Learn more about the test for hypersensitivity

In 2004, GlaxoSmithKline launched a project called "Hope After HIV: Africa." Through the Children's AIDS Fund (CAF), GlaxoSmithKline has helped open clinics in Uganda, Malawi, Zambia, and South Africa that have provided lifesaving care and treatment to more than 9,000 patients in communities devastated by HIV/AIDS.

The six sponsored clinics offer HIV tests to the community. Patients who test positive receive HIV medicines, education, mother-to-child transmission care, counseling, and follow-up. In addition to paid staff, patients are served by more than 1,500 volunteers who provide support, adherence counseling, disease education for family members, and palliative care.

GlaxoSmithKline has also established the Hope After HIV 501(c)(3) Fund, a charitable program that allows employees and others to donate funds to support life-enhancing, non-medical needs of patients receiving care at the clinics. For example, the fund has been used to:

Provide crop seeds, chickens, and pigs to improve nutrition and generate income for patients and their families
Donate a refrigerator for a new business
Buy treadle pumps to help irrigate gardens during the dry season
Pay school tuition and other education-related expenses for promising young people infected and affected by HIV
Purchase ambulance bikes that transport patients who are too sick to walk or bike to a clinic for care

For more information on Hope After HIV or to contribute, please contact the Children's AIDS Fund

Indication and Usage

EPZICOM, in combination with other antiretroviral agents, is indicated for the treatment of HIV-1 infection. EPZICOM is one of multiple products containing abacavir

Before starting EPZICOM, review medical history for prior exposure to any abacavir-containing product in order to avoid reintroduction in a patient with a history of hypersensitivity to abacavir. In one controlled study, more patients taking abacavir 600 mg once daily had severe hypersensitivity reactions compared to patients taking abacavir 300 mg twice daily

It is not recommended that EPZICOM be used as a component of a triple-nucleoside regimen

Important Safety Information

EPZICOM contains abacavir sulfate, which has been associated with serious and sometimes fatal hypersensitivity reactions. Hypersensitivity to abacavir is a multi-organ clinical syndrome usually characterized by a sign or symptom in 2 or more of the following groups: (1) fever, (2) rash, (3) gastrointestinal (including nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, or abdominal pain), (4) constitutional (including generalized malaise, fatigue, or achiness), and (5) respiratory (including dyspnea, cough, or pharyngitis). Discontinue EPZICOM as soon as a hypersensitivity reaction is suspected. Permanently discontinue EPZICOM if hypersensitivity cannot be ruled out, even when other diagnoses are possible
Following a hypersensitivity reaction to abacavir, NEVER restart EPZICOM or any other abacavir-containing product because more severe symptoms can occur within hours and may include life-threatening hypotension and death
Reintroduction of EPZICOM or any other abacavir-containing product, even in patients who have no identified history or unrecognized symptoms of hypersensitivity to abacavir therapy, can result in serious or fatal hypersensitivity reactions. Such reactions can occur within hours
Lactic acidosis and severe hepatomegaly with steatosis, including fatal cases, have been reported with the use of nucleoside analogues alone or in combination, including abacavir, lamivudine, and other antiretrovirals
EPZICOM Tablets are contraindicated in patients with hepatic impairment
Severe acute exacerbations of hepatitis B have been reported in patients who are coinfected with hepatitis B virus (HBV) and HIV and have discontinued lamivudine, which is one component of EPZICOM. Hepatic function should be monitored closely with both clinical and laboratory follow-up for at least several months in patients who discontinue EPZICOM and are coinfected with HIV and HBV. If appropriate, initiation of anti-hepatitis B therapy may be warranted
Hepatic decompensation (some fatal) has occurred in HIV/HCV coinfected patients receiving combination antiretroviral therapy for HIV and interferon with or without ribavirin. Patients receiving interferon with or without ribavirin and EPZICOM should be closely monitored for treatment-associated toxicities, especially hepatic decompensation. Discontinuation of EPZICOM should be considered as medically appropriate
Immune reconstitution syndrome has been reported in patients treated with combination antiretroviral therapy, including EPZICOM. During the initial phase of combination antiretroviral treatment, patients whose immune systems respond may develop an inflammatory response to indolent or residual opportunistic infections (such as Mycobacterium avium infection, cytomegalovirus, Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia [PCP], or tuberculosis), which may necessitate further evaluation and treatment
Redistribution/accumulation of body fat has been observed in patients receiving antiretroviral therapy. The causal relationship, mechanism, and long-term consequences of these events are currently unknown
In one study of therapy-naïve patients (CNA 30021), the most common adverse events (grade 2-4) reported with abacavir and lamivudine dosed once daily were hypersensitivity (9%), insomnia (7%), depression (7%), headache/migraine (7%), fatigue (6%), dizziness (6%), nausea (5%), diarrhea (5%), rash (5%), pyrexia (5%), abdominal pain (4%), abnormal dreams (4%), and anxiety (3%)