Open Label, Pilot Study of Darunavir Boosted by Cobicistat in Combination With Rilpivirine to Treat HIV+ Naïve Subjects

Current HIV treatment guidelines recommend the use of triple-drug therapy (two nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors and either a protease inhibitor, non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor, or an integrase inhibitor) for the treatment of antiretroviral (ARV)-naïve patients. With the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), patients with HIV are living much longer. With the increasing lifespan of persons with HIV, long-term complications from therapy as well as the occurrence of co-morbidities with aging have prompted HCPs to re-think the current treatment paradigm and consider novel combinations of ARVs. All of the currently approved HIV antiretrovirals have been implicated in causing long-term toxicities; however the greatest body of evidence for long-term metabolic effects has implicated the nucleoside reverse transcriptase (NRTI) class. By utilizing a non-NRTI treatment regimen, it is hypothesized that many of these long-term metabolic effects (renal toxicity, bone loss, body fat changes) can be delayed or avoided altogether. The clinical data on novel combinations is currently limited but rapidly growing and has included several combinations that have utilized darunavir. This study will be the first of its kind using the unique combination of darunavir/cobicistat and rilpivirine. Currently, this drug combination is not a recommended option for first time treatment of HIV