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HIV Therapy Without Integrase Inhibitor: Practical Advantages and Targeted Patient Populations

Opinion
Video

A panelist discusses how the new doravirine and islatravir combination offers an alternative to integrase inhibitor-based therapies, particularly useful for patients with integrase inhibitor resistance or adverse reactions, although clinicians may struggle with determining the ideal patient population.

Switch Study From Any Prior Antiretroviral Therapy

Key Themes:

  • Broader Switch Strategy: A second companion study examined switching from any stable antiretroviral regimen to doravirine/islatravir.
  • Noninferiority Results: The new combination demonstrated similar efficacy to continuing prior therapy with 90% to 95% virologic suppression.
  • Resistance Analysis: Few cases of treatment failure were attributed to preexisting resistance mutations.
  • Practical Considerations: Positioning of this nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor–based combination in current treatment paradigms dominated by integrase inhibitors

Notable Insights From Dr Sharon Walmsley:

  • Several virologic failures were detected, but analysis revealed these were due to preexisting mutations in patients who should not have been enrolled.
  • The new combination offers an alternative to integrase inhibitor-based regimens, which currently dominate treatment guidelines.
  • Clinicians will need to determine appropriate patient selection criteria, with potential advantages for those with integrase inhibitor resistance or intolerance.
  • More adverse events were reported when switching to the new combination vs staying on established therapy, which is expected with any regimen change.
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