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The treatment-limiting hypersensitivity reaction seen in 5% to 10% of patients exposed to abacavir creates anxiety for both doctors and patients and often unnecessarily curtails use of this drug. In this study, Australian researchers sought to determine whether a genetic susceptibility underlies abacavir hypersensitivity and might form the basis for screening patients in advance.
Of 200 patients who were prescribed abacavir as part of an antiretroviral regimen, 18 had definite hypersensitivity reactions within 6 weeks of starting the drug, 167 tolerated the drug without problem, and 15 had symptoms that were suspicious for hypersensitivity but did not fulfill all diagnostic criteria. All patients had HLA typing performed by standard assays. …