Using data from the Medical Monitoring Project, this article presents a useful view of ARV treatment in the United States. The analysis demonstrates that U.S. national rates of both ARV prescribing (for persons maintained in care) and viral suppression to <200 copies/mL increased from...

The PARTNER Study, a multisite European study, evaluated rates of HIV transmissions within serodifferent heterosexual and MSM couples (n = 548 and n = 340, respectively, contributed eligible data). The HIV-positive partners were on ART with HIV RNA levels of <200 copies/mL, and the couples...

The FDA has approved a new 2-NRTI formulation containing tenofovir alafenamide (TAF) 25 mg + emtricitabine (FTC) 200 mg for adults and children ≥12 years of age; its brand name is Descovy. This is a TAF-containing alternative to TDF/FTC (Truvada).

Recommended dosing is 1 tablet PO daily...

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...

A pharmacokinetic study presented at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Boston in February evaluated concentrations of tenofovir (TFV) and TFV-diphosphate (DP) in genital and rectal tissue and in anogenital fluid samples after administration of oral tenofovir...

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has released new treatment guidelines for adults and adolescents, and these contain some important changes. Key among these is a major shakeup in the "Recommended Regimen Options" for initial therapy. 

Providers at Kaiser San Francisco, which has a large HIV preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) program, recently published a brief report on 2 patients who developed acute HCV while on HIV PrEP. This reinforces what we might expect--that while PrEP may be effective as an HIV prevention method,...

Two boosted protease inhibitor (PI) coformulations have just been approved by the FDA. These are:

In these fixed-dose combinations, cobicistat is used as the pharmacokinetic booster of the PI...

Two boosted protease inhibitor (PI) coformulations have just been approved by the FDA. These are:

In these fixed-dose combinations, cobicistat is used as the pharmacokinetic booster of the PI...

Cobicistat, a CYP3A inhibitor, has been approved by the FDA to be used as a pharmacokinetic booster for atazanavir and once-daily darunavir.  Thus, it can be used as an alternative to ritonavir in these combinations. It already is available as a PK enhancer of elvitegravir in the elvitegravir/...

Elvitegravir is an HIV integrase inhibitor that requires pharmacokinetic enhancement with cobicistat or ritonavir. Since 2012 it has been available in a coformulation with cobicistat, tenofovir, and emtricitabine (Stribild) for treatment-naïve adults. This month the FDA approved elvitegravir as...

Over the past few years, numerous studies have examined the use of NRTI-sparing regimens in initial therapy. These regimens generally have not been as effective as standard regimens, for reasons that are not entirely clear, or have had higher rates of toxicity. Two small studies...

Coauthor: Susa Coffey, MD; Medical Editor, AETC National Resource Center

Dolutegravir (DTG), the third integrase inhibitor approved by the FDA, previously has been compared with raltegravir and with efavirenz in antiretroviral-naive patients. At ICAAC, data from an...

The integrase inhibitor dolutegravir (brand name: Tivicay) was approved by the U.S. Federal Drug Administration in August, for use in treatment-naive and treatment-experienced adults, as well as for children aged ≥12 years (and weight ≥40 kg) who have not previously taken integrase inhibitors....

Tenofovir alafenamide fumarate (TAF) is an investigational prodrug of tenofovir. You will recall that the current tenofovir product, tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF), also is a prodrug; so why are we interested in a new prodrug? This largely has to do with efforts to decrease...

Dolutegravir (formerly known as S/GSK 572) is an investigational integrase inhibitor that is in the late stages of development. It is administered once daily and does not require pharmacokinetic boosting. Two recently presented Phase 3 studies evaluated dolutegravir in combination...

Elvitegravir is a once-daily integrase inhibitor that requires PK boosting with either ritonavir or cobicistat. It recently received FDA approval for initial therapy as part of a fixed-dose combination that includes cobicistat, tenofovir, and emtricitabine (Stribild).

It has been reported previously that efavirenz reduces serum levels of rilpivirine and that this effect may be prolonged, even after discontinuation of efavirenz (see Sustained Effect of Efavirenz on Rilpivirine Serum Concentrations). A small, nonrandomized study was designed to answer the...