US Pharm. 2016;41(3):16.

Boston, MA—The antiretroviral atazanavir, which is sometimes included in therapy to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV during pregnancy, may have small but significant effects on infant development, according to a study at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. When they analyzed data on 917 non–HIV-infected infants born to HIV-positive mothers treated with antiretroviral therapy while pregnant, researchers found that 1-year-olds whose mothers took atazanavir during pregnancy had slightly reduced language and social-emotional development scores compared with infants whose mothers did not receive atazanavir. Cognitive, motor, and adaptive behaviors were similar between the two groups of infants. More study is needed to determine whether the differences persist beyond the first year, the researchers noted.

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