An initial antiretroviral regimen containing Norvir-boosted Invirase has a very low rate of treatment failure and a low risk of developing viral mutations conveying resistance to other protease inhibitors, according to research presented at the Third International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis and Treatment. Of 258 Thai patients who began treatment with Norvir-boosted Invirase, only 4% experienced virologic failure after 12 weeks of treatment as measured by two viral load measurements over 500 copies. None of those patients developed any major protease inhibtor resistance mutations, which allowed them to be effectively switched to other protease medications.
'These results support the use of [Norvir-boosted Invirase] in first-line therapy,' the researchers conclude.
The National Institutes of Health recommends the following preferred antiretroviral regimens for treatment-naive HIVers: Sustiva plus Epivir or Emtriva plus Retrovir or Viread for a nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor-based regimen; Kaletra plus Epivir or Emtriva plus Retrovir for a protease inhibitor-based therapy.
