Lipid-Lowering Therapy in HIV-Infected Patients

Dyslipidemia may be more difficult to treat in HIV-infected patients than in -uninfected individuals (JW AIDS Clin Care Mar 23 2009), and the benefits of particular lipid-lowering agents are affected by certain antiretroviral agents. For example, gemfibrozil's effect on triglycerides is compromised by concomitant protease inhibitor (PI) therapy. Now, a new study on the interaction between gemfibrozil and lopinavir/ritonavir (LPV/r), a commonly prescribed PI, provides a possible explanation.

In an open-label investigation involving 15 healthy, HIV-uninfected volunteers, researchers at the NIH examined the effect of LPV/r coadministration on gemfibrozil pharmacokinetics. Gemfibrozil plasma concentrations, measured using a sensitive liquid chro…