Integrase Inhibitor Raltegravir Doubles Antiviral Response Rate in Treatment Experienced HIV-Infected Patients Compared to Optimised Background Therapy Alone

REFERENCE: Abstract 105aLB, 105bLB, 14th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, Los Angeles February 25-28, 2007
Raltegravir doubled the antiviral response rate and the increase in CD4 cells among treatment-experienced HIV-infected patients who were resistant to at least one drug in each of the nucleoside, non-nucleoside, and protease inhibitor classes. Two placebo controlled trials (BENCHMRK-1 and BENCHMRK-2) randomized a total of almost 700 subjects to either raltegravir 400 mg twice daily or to placebo, each on a background of optimized antiviral background therapy. Raltegravir is an integrase inhibitor and acts to block the enzyme that allows HIV’s nuclei acid to integrate into the DNA of host cells. At the Los Angeles conference Dan Keller heard about the studies from Roy Steigbigel and John Mellors.