Substitution of a Nonnucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitor for a Protease Inhibitor in the Treatment of Patients with Undetectable Plasma Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 RNA

• Published in: Clinical infectious diseases 2000-11, Vol.31 (5), p.1274-1278
• Main Authors: Raffi, François, Bonnet, Bénédicte, Ferré, Virginie, Esnault, Jean-Luc, Perré, Philippe, Reliquet, Véronique, Leautez, Sophie, Bouillant, Christine, Vergnoux, Odile, Weinbreck, Pierre
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: AIDS; Antiretrovirals; CD4 Lymphocyte Count; Follow-Up Studies; Highly active antiretroviral therapy; HIV; HIV 1; HIV Infections - drug therapy; HIV-1 - drug effects; HIV/AIDS; Human immunodeficiency virus 1; Humans; Medical treatment failures; Memory interference; Protease Inhibitors - therapeutic use; Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors - therapeutic use; RNA; RNA, Viral - blood; RNA, Viral - drug effects; RNA-directed DNA polymerase inhibitors (non-nucleoside); Time Factors; Treatment Outcome; Virology; Viruses
• ISSN: 1058-4838; 1537-6591
• DOI: 10.1086/317424

Seventy-three patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) were enrolled in a prospective observational study to investigate the efficacy and tolerance of substituting a nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) for a protease inhibitor (PI) in patients whose plasma viral load (pVL) was controlled by a PI regimen. After a median follow-up of 52 weeks, 63 patients (86.3%) had undetectable pVLs. The incidence of virological breakthrough at 12 months of follow-up was 6.5% (95% confidence interval [CI], 1–20) among patients who had been antiretroviral naive before receiving HAART and 19.2% (95% CI, 6–34) among patients who had been treated with antiretroviral drugs before receiving the PI regimen (P = .10).