Patients Show Ability to Stick to Nonnucleoside Regimens

A study in the February issue of the journal AIDS showed that HIV-positive people report being better able to adhere to an anti-HIV drug regimen that includes a nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor instead of a protease inhibitor. Researchers evaluated adherence differences between the two regimens in 596 HIV-positive adults who answered a 16-item questionnaire. Less than half of patients taking a protease-based drug cocktail reported properly adhering to their regimen, while 57.8% of those on Viramune-based therapy and 67% of patients taking a Sustiva-based cocktail were adherent. The researchers concluded that 'the use of NNRTI-based HAART as a regimen-focused intervention strategy to optimize adherence should be considered in clinical practice. Nonetheless, in NNRTI-treated patients it remains crucial to assess and to try to prevent nonadherence, taking into consideration the low threshold of cross-resistance within this class of drugs.'