Long Term Protease Inhibitor Monotherapy in a Two-Tiered HIV-1 Levels Design

The goal of antiretroviral therapy (ART) is long term suppression of HIV in plasma. Current standard recommended therapeutic options include use of protease inhibitor (PI) or non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) combined with two nucleoside reversetranscriptase inhibitors (NRTI) for high viral loads (>75,000 cps/ml) as well as for long term maintenance at <40 cps/ml. 

 HIV

Using protease inhibitors in combination with NNRTI can be problematic due to potential development of drug resistance and consequent loss of treatment options. Recent licensure of many alternative drugs targeting protease and reverse transcriptase as well as newer class inhibitors such as INSTI (integrase inhibitors) and CCR5 (co-receptor blocker) provide effective counters to resistance as well as to other untoward side effects. Read More>>>>>>>