Researchers conducted a large, Phase 4 clinical trial to compare two different strategies for treating HIV when the first round of medication stops working. The study involved 558 people living with HIV who experienced this treatment failure. They were randomly assigned to receive one of two different second-line drug combinations to see which was more effective.
One group received a combination of two specific drugs, lopinavir/ritonavir and raltegravir. The other group received lopinavir/ritonavir plus a different set of two or three other standard drugs. The main goal was to see how many people in each group had their virus successfully suppressed to a very low level after 48 weeks of treatment.
The study also planned to look at safety, side effects, immune system changes, and quality of life over 96 weeks. However, the results for the primary goal of viral suppression, as well as all safety and secondary outcomes, have not been reported. Because no findings are available, it is impossible to say if one treatment strategy was better, safer, or more tolerable than the other. Readers should understand this is a description of a study that has been completed, but its results are not yet known.