An experimental "4 days on, 3 days off" antiretroviral regimen kept viral load fully suppressed in 96% of people for 48 weeks in a French study presented at the International Congress on Drug Therapy in HIV Infection (HIV Glasgow) last week. The study recruited people whose viral load had been fully suppressed on standard treatment for a median of 4 years, not people who had started therapy recently.

A new fusion inhibitor, albuvirtide, under development in China, combined with a boosted protease inhibitor, proved just as effective as a triple regimen of lopinavir/ritonavir plus 2 NRTIs for treatment-experienced HIV patients, according to a report at the International Congress on Drug Therapy in HIV Infection last month in Glasgow.

Simplifying antiretroviral therapy to a 2-drug combination of lamivudine plus the protease inhibitor darunavir (Prezista) boosted by ritonavir is just as effective as a 3-drug regimen in people with suppressed viral load, Spanish investigators reported at the International Congress on Drug Therapy in HIV infection (HIV Glasgow) last month in Glasgow.

Over a 20-year period, people who suffered lipodystrophy (abnormal fat distribution) and especially lipoatrophy (fat loss) when they started antiretroviral therapy (ART) actually had better health outcomes than people who did not suffer from it, according to a report at the 2016 International Congress on Drug Therapy in HIV Infection (HIV Glasgow) last week.

A sexual health clinic in central London that offered to test drug levels in users of tenofovir/emtricitabine pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) who had bought it online found adequate levels of both drugs in their blood, and no sample suggesting counterfeit drugs.

Use of generic versions of direct-acting antivirals for hepatitis C resulted in very high cure rates for people who obtained the products through 3 buyers’ clubs, indicating that the generic products are effective, according to a set of poster presentations at the International Congress on Drug Therapy in HIV Infection (HIV Glasgow) last week. People who purchased generic drugs were cured at a cost of around US$700-$900 in Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe, Andrew Hill of St. Stephen’s AIDS Trust reported.

Simplification of antiretroviral treatment to a boosted protease inhibitor and the nucleoside analog lamivudine -- a dual regimen -- is highly effective for people switching from a stable 3-drug regimen, researchers reported this week at the International Congress on Drug Therapy in HIV Infection (HIV Glasgow).

The complexity of the needs of people living with HIV will continue to increase as the population ages, and clinicians need to go beyond thinking about co-morbidities to consider multi-morbidities -- clusters of medical conditions that complicate one another -- when caring for these people, Edouard Battegay from the University Hospital Zurich told attendees at the International Congress on Drug Therapy in HIV Infection (HIV Glasgow) this week.

Insomnia, dizziness, headache, and other central nervous system (CNS) side effects are occurring more frequently with everyday use of dolutegravir than clinical trials had suggested, and are most likely to occur among women, people over age 60, and people starting abacavir at the same time, a German research group reported at the International Congress on Drug Therapy in HIV Infection (HIV Glasgow) this week.

Rectal microbicides that protect against HIV transmission via anal sex are a bigger technical challenge than vaginal ones. The rectal lining is more delicate than the vaginal lining, so safety has been an issue; research has shown that many of the gel formulations used in lubricants damage rectal cells and may actually enhance HIV transmission.