Delavirdine mesylate salvage therapy worth it after indinavir failure

Development of resistance to one or more of the established antiretroviral agents in patients with HIV infections necessitates the use of salvage regimens. However, each additional drug used in these regimens increases the cost of treatment and the consumption of limited resources allocated for the treatment of HIV. It is therefore necessary to consider the cost of any therapeutic benefit gained by the use of additional drugs. The inclusion of the non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) delavirdine mesylate ['Rescriptor'] in a salvage therapy regimen after indinavir failure is cost effective, according to a preliminary analysis of results from the ACTG* 359 study presented at the XIV International AIDS Conference [Barcelona, Spain; July 2002].1