AETC National Coordinating Resource Center

We close out 2020 by recognizing the productivity of the AETC community despite this year’s challenges and setbacks. In addition to restructuring and reimagining their clinical settings and AETC-related programming due to the COVID-19 pandemic, AETC members were also researching and...

In July 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved fostemsavir (FTR) for treatment of people with multi-drug resistant HIV-1 whose current ARV regimen is failing because of resistance, intolerance, or safety issues. FTR is a novel attachment inhibitor that binds the HIV envelope...

Below is the preliminary schedule of AETC Program sessions and poster presentations planned for the 2020 National Ryan White Conference on HIV Care & Treatment. The AETC National Coordinating Resource Center will also be exhibiting, representing the AETC Program's training materials,...

TDF/FTC (Truvada) is the only ARV combination currently approved by the FDA for use as preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP). The multinational Phase 3 DISCOVER Study compared the efficacy and safety of TAF/FTC (Descovy) with TDF/FTC, in HIV-uninfected cisgender MSM and transgender women at high risk...

The International AIDS Society (IAS)-USA recently released its 2018 HIV treatment and prevention recommendations. The document is particularly notable for its discussion of "When to Start ART."

The IAS-USA recommends "rapid" or immediate start of ART upon diagnosis of HIV, stating that...

Integrase inhibitors have become primary treatment for most people with HIV; however, the impact of newer integrase inhibitors on pregnancy outcomes has not been well described. Researchers for the observational Tsepamo study have been examining birth outcomes in Botswanan women treated with...

Two pharmacokinetic studies from AIDS 2018 help elucidate the disposition of tenofovir alafenamide (TAF) and cobicistat-boosted darunavir during pregnancy.

The IMPAACT P1026s study examined plasma concentrations of TAF with and without cobicistat in 43 pregnant women. For women taking...

As we have commented in the past, initial ARV regimens consisting of 2 drugs tend to perform poorly in comparison with currently recommended 3-drug regimens. Yet, given toxicity concerns about some ARVs (particularly about tenofovir DF and abacavir) and cost concerns about 3-drug regimens, the...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has given approval to a coformulation of darunavir 800 mg/cobicistat 150 mg/emtricitabine 200 mg/tenofovir alafenamide (TAF) 10 mg, to be marketed under the brand name Symtuza. DRV/COBI/FTC/TAF constitutes a complete regimen for patients with susceptible HIV...

The availability of ART immediately after the diagnosis of HIV offers many possible benefits, including earlier engagement in care and earlier HIV suppression, which may result in personal and public health benefits. Based on randomized clinical trials done in developing-world settings, the...

Release from correctional settings is a high-stakes time for persons with HIV, as it is for those with other health issues. People with substance use disorders often relapse, and those with HIV often stop ART and do not engage in HIV care, increasing the risk of declines in...

Bictegravir (BIC), a new integrase inhibitor, was recently approved by the FDA for use in a single-pill coformulation with TAF/FTC (brand name: Biktarvy) as initial therapy and as a switch regimen for patients who are already on a suppressive ART regimen and who have no history of...

Treatment of tuberculosis (TB) in HIV-infected persons remains challenging, in part because of drug interactions between rifampin and some ARVs that may compromise antiretroviral therapy (ART). Three studies presented at CROI provide clinicians with additional guidance on how to manage certain...

Doravirine (DOR) is an investigational NNRTI that currently is being developed in a coformulation with TDF and FTC. A Phase 3 comparison of DOR + 2 NRTIs (87% of study subjects were given TDF/FTC) and DRV/r + 2 NRTIs in initial therapy was presented at CROI earlier this year (DRIVE-FORWARD); the...

Bictegravir (BIC) is an investigational integrase inhibitor that is being studied as part of a coformulation with tenofovir alafenamide (TAF) and emtricitabine (FTC). Two Phase 3 trials comparing a single-tablet regimen of BIC/TAF/FTC (50/25/200 mg) with regimens containing dolutegravir (DTG)...

Bictegravir is an investigational integrase inhibitor that is dosed once daily, unboosted. It is active in vitro against many viruses with integrase resistance mutations. A Phase 2 double-blind placebo-controlled study randomized treatment-naive...

Leading up to this year, some researchers and clinicians had optimistically viewed dolutegravir an invincible ARV, a drug so mighty that it was unlikely to fail, and even more unlikely to be victim to emergent resistance mutations. Two presentations at CROI demonstrated the...

This publication presents the results of San Francisco General Hospital's Ward 86 pilot study of immediate ART initiation. This RAPID program systematically offered ART to patients upon diagnosis of HIV; patients were referred from HIV testing sites in San Francisco. Of the 39 patients who...

We know that very early treatment in acute HIV infection decreases HIV RNA; this study shows it also greatly decreases proviral DNA (and reservoir size). Researchers investigated 2 small cohorts of patients in Thailand with acute (and very early) HIV infection, 1 untreated and 1 treated with ART...

Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) may cause decreases in bone mineral density (BMD). In both HIV-infected patients treated with TDF-containing ARV regimens, and in HIV-uninfected persons who use it for PrEP. A substudy of the large iPrEx trial of TDF/FTC PrEP in MSM and transgender women...

Researchers at the 2016 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections presented results from a randomized double-blind, double-dummy switch study of TAF/FTC. Over 660 patients with virologic suppression on TDF/FTC-containing 3-drug regimens were either switched to TAF/FTC (200/10 mg...

I would like to start this new year introducing myself to the AIDS Education and Training Center (AETC) community.  I had the pleasure of joining the AETC National Coordinating Resource Center (NCRC) as a Health Educator in December 2015.  I look forward to using my skill set as a...