The program includes two similar studies, Gemini 1 and Gemini 2, which are being undertaken at research centres in Europe, Central and South America, North America, South Africa and Asia Pacific.
The trials will measure whether the dual-medicine treatment will be non-inferior compared to the current three-drug treatment after 48 weeks.
They will continue to assess the long term antiviral activity, tolerability and safety of dolutegravir plus lamivudine through Week 148.
ViiV Healthcare chief scientific and medical officer John Pottage said: “We believe the clinical profile for dolutegravir presents an important opportunity to investigate the possibility of first-line treatment of HIV with a two-drug regimen.
“With this ambitious phase III programme, we will explore whether this two-drug regimen can fundamentally change the existing HIV treatment strategy, reducing the number of medications and potentially streamlining treatment regimens for people living with HIV.”
Dolutegravir is an integrase strand transfer inhibitor for use in combination with other antiretroviral agents for the treatment of HIV.
Lamivudine is a nucleoside analogue used in combination with other antiretroviral agents for the treatment of HIV infection.
Image: ViiV Healthcare starts testing a new two-drug treatment for HIV treatment. Photo: courtesy of dream designs at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.