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On 17 October 2001, Health Canada approved the sale of Trizivir tablets in Canada. Trizivir contains the following three drugs:

• AZT (Retrovir) – 300 mg
• ABC (abacavir, Ziagen) – 150 mg
• 3TC (lamivudine, Epivir) – 300 mg

Trizivir was approved for the treatment of adults with HIV/AIDS, at a dose of one tablet twice daily, with or without food. Side effects that may occur from Trizivir include the following:

• nausea
• vomiting
• diarrhea
• difficulty falling asleep
• fatigue
• rash
• temporary, minor hair loss

Abacavir can cause a hypersensitivity reaction. People with HIV/AIDS who experience this reaction should never use abacavir or Trizivir again.

Because HIV can infect brain cells, it's important to consider a drug's ability to reach the brain when putting together an anti-HIV regimen. It's probably wise to include at least one drug that has been shown to cross the blood-brain barrier to some useful degree as part of your regimen. These include AZT (zidovudine, Retrovir), d4T (stavudine, Zerit), abacavir (Ziagen), nevirapine (Viramune), amprenavir (Agenerase) and to a lesser degree indinavir (Crixivan) and 3TC (lamivudine, Epivir). Efavirenz (Sustiva) has not been shown to cross the barrier to a significant degree, but some experts speculate that it might have some useful effect in impacting HIV in the spinal fluid.