Mathematical modeling has suggested that cyclic use of antiretroviral therapy can be an effective strategy in lowering viral load in HIV-1 infected patients when regular triple drug combinations have lost efficacy due to the emergence of HIV resistance mutations.~This is an open label, crossover pilot study to explore the safety and efficacy of a rapid cycling regimen of antiretroviral combination therapy in HIV-1 infected patients with virus harboring genotypic resistance to at least three classes of antiretroviral therapy.~The objectives are to study the feasibility, safety and efficacy of sequential combination therapy in HIV-1 infected patients with virus harboring genotypic resistance to at least three classes of antiretroviral agents and who currently have no adequate treatment options available.~This is an open-label, crossover, pilot study. Patients that fail their current regimen, and who currently have no adequate treatment options left, will be randomized to start either an alternating triple combination, or to start a continuous quadruple regimen of drugs. After 6 weeks, patients will crossover from either strategy to the other strategy for another 6 weeks. Each period is preceded by an interruption of all antiretroviral therapy for 4 weeks. In the study period when regimens are alternated, two combinations of three drugs with the least possible cross-resistance will alternate every week.
This is an open label, crossover pilot study to explore the safety and efficacy of a rapid cycling regimen of antiretroviral combination therapy in HIV-1 infected patients with virus harboring genotypic resistance to at least three classes of antiretroviral therapy.