Exposure and virologic outcomes of dolutegravir combined with ritonavir boosted darunavir in treatment-naive individuals enrolled in the Netherlands Cohort Study on Acute HIV infection (NOVA)

To the authors' knowledge, there is currently no literature or guidance recommendation regard-ing whether the dose of dolutegravir (DTG) should be increased when co-administered with darunavir/ritonavir (DRV/r) in patients with acute human immunodeficiency virus infection (AHI). This study assessed the pharmacokinetics (PK) of twice-daily (BID) DTG and once-daily (QD) DRV/r, and com-pared this with DTG QD without DRV/r in patients with AHI. Forty-six participants initiated antiretro-viral therapy within < 24 h of enrolment: DTG 50 mg BID, DRV/r 80 0/10 0 mg QD, and two nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) for 4 weeks (Phase I); and DTG 50 mg QD with two NRTIs there-after (Phase II: reference). Total DTG trough concentration (Ctrough) and area under the concentration-time profile of 0-24 h (AUC0-24h) were predicted using a population PK model. DTG glucuronidation metabolic ratio (MR) and DTG free fraction were determined and compared per treatment phase using geometric mean ratio (GMR) and 90% confidence interval (CI). Participants had a predicted geometric mean steady-state DTG Ctrough of 2.83 [coefficient of variation (CV%) 30.3%] mg/L (Phase I) and 1.28 (CV% 52.4%) mg/L (Phase II), with GMR of 2.20 (90% CI 1.90-2.55). Total exposure during DTG BID increased but did not double [AUC0-24h GMR 1.65 (90% CI 1.50-1.81) h.mg/L]. DTG glucuronidation MR increased by approxi-mately 29% during Phase I. DTG Ctrough was above in-vivo EC90 (0.32 mg/L) during both phases, except in one participant during Phase I. At Week 8, 84% of participants had viral loads <= 40 copies/mL. The drug-drug interaction between DTG (BID) and DRV/r (QD) was due to induced glucuronidation, and is not clinically relevant in patients with AHI.(c) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )

Automated summary

This study evaluated the dose adjustment of dolutegravir (DTG) when co-administered with darunavir/ritonavir (DRV/r) in patients with acute human immunodeficiency virus infection (AHI). The results showed that DTG 50 mg twice daily with DRV/r 800/100 mg once daily achieved satisfactory outcomes without significant clinically relevant drug-drug interactions in patients with AHI.