Side-stepping Side Effects: HIV Treatment Interruption (Medscape Health for Consumers)

7 On, 7 Off

Last July at the 13th International AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa, Dr. Mike Dybul, a member of Fauci's research team at the NIAID laboratory, presented data on five patients taking indinavir, ritonavir, stavudine (d4T), and lamivudine (3tC) for 7 days and then going off treatment for 7 days before starting again. Now there are ten patients enrolled in the study, and at the time of the Chicago conference they had been observed for 44 weeks (22 cycles).

Fauci said that when these patients follow the regimen of 7 days on, 7 days off, their viral load does not rebound. What's more, the virus has not developed drug-resistant mutations in any of the patients. Nor does there seem to be any negative impact on the immune system.

Only two patients in the study have shown any viral rebound, according to Fauci. One skipped his medication for a week when he went on a cruise to Europe, and the other went 10 days without taking the drugs instead of 7 days. Both patients, Fauci said, returned to undetectable viral loads within 1 week of restarting therapy.