Single Agent Therapy for HIV Infection?

Lopinavir/ritonavir is a potent drug with an excellent pharmacokinetic profile, and treatment-naive patients are unlikely to harbor resistance to this agent. For these reasons, experts have contemplated use of this drug as single-agent therapy for HIV infection. An earlier study of amprenavir monotherapy was discontinued after a mean of 88 days when 15 of 42 patients experienced virologic failure (see Murphy RL et al. J Infect Dis 1999 Apr; 179:808-16). However, single-agent lopinavir/ritonavir may be a different story because of the pharmacokinetic advantages of ritonavir boosting. Gathe and colleagues reported preliminary data on 25 treatment-naive subjects who received lopinavir/ritonavir as monotherapy.

In the published, abstract it was …