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VIDEO: Advances in ART reduce drug resistance
The role of ART in treating and preventing HIV was the focus of several presentations at ASM Microbe 2016. The use of these regimens among older patients and individuals with renal impairment was highlighted, as well as the ways in which the Strategic Timing of Antiretroviral Treatment trial has impacted initiation of therapy for all patients with HIV.
In addition to improving clinical outcomes, the “remarkable transformation” in ART over the last 2 decades has decreased the development of drug resistance, according to Jonathan Z. Li, MD, MMSc, assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital and member of the AIDS Clinical Trials Group at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
The newer regimens are more “patient-friendly” – with many regimens that consist of one pill once a day – and less toxic, according to Li. He reviews the factors that have decreased drug resistance while noting that physicians should remain cautious about resistance on a global level, particularly in the developing world, where viral load testing and drug resistance testing is limited.
“While I think that these newer regimens have significantly improved our ability to treat our patients … there still needs to be a lot of vigilance as we expand ART access to the rest of the world,” Li said.