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Adolescent antiretroviral options expanding
Carole Leach-Lemens, 2012-07-25 03:00:00
A range of new antiretroviral drugs are in development for adolescents with HIV, a population which may have extensive experience of antiretroviral therapy and resistance to some of the most commonly used drugs, the 19th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012) in Washington DC heard on July 24.
Dolutegravir and raltegravir (Isentress) offer the potential for options involving a whole new class of drugs – integrase inhibitors – for highly treatment-experienced adolescents.
Etravirine (Intelence), a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) could offer an important alternative to nevirapine (Viramune). Many children will have experience of an NNRTI such as nevirapine as used in prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) so making second-or third-line treatment options difficult, especially in resource-poor settings.
While these findings bring long-awaited and welcome new developments they also serve to highlight the divide, not only between adults and children, but also between children in resource-rich settings and those in resource-poor settings.
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