Virological treatment failure of protease inhibitor therapy in an unselected cohort of HIV-infected patients

Objective: To determine the rate of virological treatment failure with protease inhibitor therapy in unselected patients and to assess underlying risk factors. Design and setting: Retrospective study in two German tertiary care treatment centres. Patients: A total of 198 HIV-infected patients treated with protease inhibitors in 1996. Main outcome measures: Levels of HIV RNA 1-6 months after start of treatment; definition of treatment failure of < 1 log 10 reduction in plasma HIV RNA within 6 months after starting protease inhibitor therapy; multivariate analysis of risk factors for treatment failures. Results: A total of 226 treatment episodes with protease inhibitors were evaluable (saquinavir, 83; ritonavir, 47; indinavir, 96). The rate of virological treatment failure was 44% (saquinavir, 64%; ritonavir, 38%; indinavir, 30%). In a multivariate analysis, the following independent risk factors for virological failure were found: CD4 cell count, pretreatment with antiretroviral drugs (number), and protease inhibitor (compound). The relative risk reduction for each CD4 cell count increase was 0.997 (P = 0.012), 2.64 for pretreatment with one or two drugs versus no drug (P = 0.05), 2.97 for pretreatment with more than two drugs versus no drug (P = 0.05), and 4.62 for treatment with saquinavir versus indinavir (P = 0.001). Conclusion: An unexpectedly high rate of virological treatment failure of protease inhibitor therapy was found in an unselected cohort of HIV-infected patients. Response to antiretroviral combination therapy in normal clinical practice may considerably differ from results of randomized clinical trials. Further studies are warranted to find optimal treatment strategies for both initial and salvage therapy.