Initial Antiretroviral Regimens — New Recommendations
The invaluable guidelines on antiretroviral therapy (ART) of adolescents and adults produced by the CDC, NIH, and HIVMA were updated on April 8, 2015. The following is a summary of some of the significant changes to the previous guidelines in recommendations regarding the choice of an initial antiretroviral regimen in treatment-naïve patients.
The continued development of new antiretroviral agents has led to changes in recommendations for initial ART in treatment-naïve patients. They now include four distinct regimens based on an integrase strand transfer inhibitor together with one ritonavir-boosted protease inhibitor-based regimen; each recommendation is graded AI. The recommended regimens are:
- Dolutegravir/abacavir/lamivudine (only if HLA-B*5701-negative;
- Dolutegravir/tenofovir fumarate/emtricitabine;
- Elvitegravir/cobicistat/tenofovir fumarate/emtricitabine (only if CrCl > 70 mL/min);
- Raltegravir/tenofovir fumarate/emtricitabine;
- Darunavir/ritonavir/tenofovir fumarate/emtricitabine.
The following previously recommended regimens are now listed only as alternatives, with each recommendation graded BI:
- Efavirenz/tenofovir fumarate/emtricitabine;
- Atazanavir/ritonavir/tenofovir fumarate/emtricitabine.
Both these regimens were “demoted” because of toxicity. In the case of the efavirenz-based regimen, this involves adverse central nervous system reactions, including possible increased suicidality.
The following three regimens that were previously listed as recommended for individuals with a baseline plasma RNA concentration < 100,000 copies/mL or > 200 CD4+ T cells per mm3 are now considered alternatives:
- Atazanavir/ritonavir/abacavir/lamivudine;
- Efavirenz/abacavir/lamivudine;
- Rilpivirine/tenofovir fumarate/lamivudine.
Four of the five recommended initial antiretroviral regimens in treatment-naïve adolescents and adults are based on integrase strand transfer inhibitors.
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