Role of etravirine in the management of treatment-experienced patients with human immunodeficiency virus type 1

Review

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Author: Rolando M Viani

Published Date June 2010 Volume 2010:2 Pages 141 - 149

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/HIV.S5854

Rolando M Viani

Department of Pediatrics, Division of Infectious Diseases, Center for AIDS Research, University of California San Diego School of Medicine and UCSD, Mother, Child and Adolescent HIV Program, Rady Children’s Hospital, San Diego, California, USA

Abstract: Etravirine is an oral diarylpyrimidine compound, a second-generation human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) with expanded antiviral activity against NNRTI-resistant HIV-1, to be used in combination therapy for treatment-experienced patients. Compared with first-generation NNRTIs, etravirine has a high genetic barrier to resistance, and is better tolerated without the neuropsychiatric and hepatic side effects of efavirenz and nevirapine, respectively. Its safety profile is comparable to placebo with the exception of rash, which has been mild and self-limited in the great majority of patients. In phase III clinical trials among treatment-experienced patients harboring NNRTI-resistant HIV-1, etravirine in combination with an optimized background regimen (OBR) that included ritonavir-boosted darunavir demonstrated superior antiviral activity than the control OBR. In addition, patients on the etravirine arm had fewer AIDS-defining conditions, hospitalizations, and lower mortality compared with the OBR control arm.

Keywords: HIV, antiretroviral therapy, non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor