Rationalizing salvage therapy
Palmer, S.
Gmhc Treatment Issues the Gay Men's Health Crisis Newsletter of Experimental Aids Therapies 12(6): 1-2
1998
ISSN/ISBN: 1077-1824 PMID: 11365721 Document Number: 485800
Drug resistant HIV strains are a major cause of treatment failure, and they evolve whenever the virus is not fully suppressed by a patient's drug regimen. Drug resistant strains generally result from suboptimal drug regimens, poor drug absorption, or noncompliance. The Stanford University Medical Center's Center for AIDS Research is designing salvage therapies for patients harboring resistant HIV. The first step in the process is to conduct a genotypic analysis which establishes the genetic mutations that are related to drug resistance. The second step involves analyzing the resistance patterns of the different genetic mutations. The third step is to test the activity of both approved and experimental antiretrovirals against the genetic mutations. The final step in designing salvage therapies is to use cell culture assays to assess the effectiveness of drug combinations in inhibiting the resistant mutations. A clinical trial is currently being conducted to test drug combinations as salvage therapies.