Raltegravir Non-Inferior to Nucleoside Based Regimens in SECOND-LINE Therapy with Lopinavir/Ritonavir over 96 Weeks: A Randomised Open Label Study for the Treatment Of HIV-1 Infection

OBJECTIVE: To determine the durability over 96 weeks of safety and efficacy of lopinavir/ritonavir (LPV/r) and raltegravir (RAL) which was demonstrated to have non-inferior efficacy relative to a regimen of LPV/r with nucleoside/nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors (N(t)RTIs) (Control) in primary analysis at 48 weeks. DESIGN: Open label, centrally randomised trial. SETTING: Recruitment was from 37 primary and secondary care sites from Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and Latin America. SUBJECTS: 541 HIV-1 infected adults virologically failing first-line non-NRTI + 2N(t)RTI, with no previous exposure to protease inhibitors or integrase strand transfer inhibitors were analysed, 425 completed 96 weeks follow up on randomised therapy. INTERVENTION: Randomisation was 1:1 to Control or RAL. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Differences between the proportion of participants with plasma HIV-1 RNA (VL) <200 copies/mL by intention to treat were compared with a non-inferiority margin of −12%. Differences in biochemical, haematological and metabolic changes were assessed using T-tests. RESULTS: VL <200 copies/mL at 96 weeks was: RAL 80.4%, Control 76.0% (difference: 4.4 [95%CI −2.6, 11.3]) and met non-inferiority criteria. The RAL arm had a significantly higher mean change (difference Control-RAL; 95%CI) in haemoglobin (−2.9; −5.7, −1.1), total lymphocytes (−0.2; −0.3, −0.0), total cholesterol (−0.5; −0.8, −0.3), HDL cholesterol (−0.1; −0.1, −0.0) and LDL cholesterol (−0.3; −0.5, −0.2). CONCLUSION: At 96 weeks, both RAL and Control maintained efficacy greater than 75% and continued to demonstrate similar safety profiles. These results support the use of a combination LPV/r and RAL regimen as an option following failure of 1st line NNRTI + 2N(t)RTIs. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00931463