Replacing ritonavir by nelfinavir or nelfinavir/saquinavir as part of highly active antiretroviral therapy leads to an improvement of triglyceride levels

In a randomized, parallel arm, open-label study, the effect of switching from ritonavir to either nelfinavir or nelfinavir plus saquinavir as part of a triple antiretroviral regimen was investigated in 16 patients with undetectable HIV-1 loads. Patients continued to use the same nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors as before the switch of protease inhibitor. The period of follow-up was 48 weeks. In all patients HIV-1 load remained undectable, whereas CD4 cell counts remained stable. Furthermore, lipid markers improved after the switch.