Comparison of two once-daily regimens with a regimen consisting of nelfinavir, didanosine, and stavudine in antiretroviral therapy-naive adults: 48-week results from the Antiretroviral Regimen Evaluation Study (ARES).

Contains fulltext : 47519.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)BACKGROUND: To improve the dosing frequency and pill burden of antiretroviral therapy, we compared two once-daily dosed regimens to a twice-daily dosed regimen. METHOD: HIV-1-infected, antiretroviral drug-naive adults were randomized to either twice-daily nelfinavir and stavudine and once-daily didanosine (regimen A) or simplified once-daily dosed antiretroviral regimens consisting of nevirapine, didanosine, and lamivudine (regimen B) or saquinavir, ritonavir, didanosine, and lamivudine (regimen C). RESULTS: At 48 weeks of therapy, the proportion of patients with a blood plasma HIV-1 RNA concentration (pVL) <50 copies/mL by intention-to treat analysis was 42.3%, 50.0%, and 56.5% for regimens A (n = 26), B (n = 22), and C (n = 23), respectively. The time to a pVL