Although the drug was evaluated in treatment-experienced patients, a high percentage of participants were able to take three or more other active HIV drugs as part of the optimized background regimen with vicriviroc, potentially undermining vicriviroc's ability to demonstrate superiority over placebo… Merck will continue to study the drug in HIV patients who have not received prior treatment.
It’s going to be just as hard, if not harder, for vicriviroc to succeed in the first-line setting, IMO. This is the trial the article you posted refers to, where vicriviroc + Reyataz is being compared to Truvada + Reyataz: