THE EFFECTIVENESS OF COMBINED SAQUINAVIR AND KETOCONAZOLE TREATMENT IN REDUCING HIV VIRAL LOAD

With the advent of protease inhibitors, the treatment of persons infec ted with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has resulted in lower levels of the virus in the blood. The first of these protease inhibito rs was saquinavir, which inhibits the HIV protease enzyme responsible For post-translational processing of Gag and Gag-Pol poly protein prec ursors into their functional products. Studies have suggested that ket oconazole, given in combination with saquinavir, increases the bioavai lability of saquinavir. This study compared the HIV viral load in pati ents treated with saquinavir alone and in combination with ketoconazol e. Results showed that white all patients who received saquinavir exhi bited a positive response, patients who also received ketoconazole had a greater drop in viral load levels. In addition, a greater number of patients had undetectable viral levels after 3 months on the ketocona zole/saquinavir regimen. These results indicate that the combination o f saquinavir/ketoconazole for the treatment of HIV requires further st udy.