ART-Free Weekends for HIV-Infected Youth: Promising Strategy or Outdated Plan?

Compared with daily antiretroviral therapy, weekends-off therapy was safer and noninferior in terms of maintaining virologic suppression through 48 weeks.

Antiretroviral therapy (ART) is now recommended for all persons with HIV infection, including children and adolescents. To test the safety and effectiveness of allowing young patients to take weekends off from ART, European investigators conducted a randomized, open-label, noninferiority, phase II/III trial (BREATHER) involving a geographically diverse group of 199 children, adolescents, and young adults with HIV infection who had at least 12 months of suppressed HIV RNA on efavirenz-based regimens.

Patients either continued daily efavirenz-containing ART (continuous therapy) or switched to 5 days of ART weekly with weekends off (short-cycle therapy). The primary outcome was the proportion of patients with a confirmed HIV RNA >50 copies duri…

Reviewing Author

Charles B. Hicks, MD

Disclosures

Consultant / Advisory boardGilead Sciences; ViiV; Merck

RoyaltiesUpToDate, Inc.

Grant / Research supportNIH; Department of Health and Human Services

Charles B. Hicks, MD

Disclosures

Consultant / Advisory boardGilead Sciences; ViiV; Merck

RoyaltiesUpToDate, Inc.

Grant / Research supportNIH; Department of Health and Human Services

ART-Free Weekends for HIV-Infected Youth: Promising Strategy or Outdated Plan?

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Reviewing Author