P. Krogstad et al., Treatment of human immunodeficiency virus 1-infected infants and children with the protease inhibitor nelfinavir mesylate, CLIN INF D, 28(5), 1999, pp. 1109-1118
An open-label study was conducted of nelfinavir mesylate, given with revers
e transcriptase inhibitors to human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1)-infect
ed infants and children 3 months to 13 years of age. Doses of nelfinavir me
sylate of 20-30 mg/kg yielded drug exposures comparable to those seen in ad
ults. The drug was well tolerated; mild diarrhea was the primary toxic effe
ct observed. Seventy-one percent (39) of the 55 evaluable subjects had an i
nitial decrease in plasma HIV-1 RNA, of at least 0.7 log(10) copies/mL; sup
pression of plasma HIV-1 RNA levels to <400 copies/mL was observed in 15. C
hildren who began taking at least one new reverse transcriptase inhibitor n
ear the time when nelfinavir mesylate was started, and those with a greater
than or equal to 24% proportion of CD4 lymphocytes, had a greater chance o
f achieving and maintaining a decline in plasma HIV-1 RNA to <400 copies/mL
. Suppression of viremia was achieved in children as young as 3 months of a
ge.