UK investigators have developed an online resource that can help doctors select the most effective combination of anti-HIV drugs for patients with extensive experience of antiretroviral therapy. Evaluated in two studies published in the January edition of AIDS Patient Care and STDs, suggestions made by the tool led to doctors changing their initial treatment decision in a third of cases. Physicians found the resource easy to use, and the majority said that they would consider using it in the future.
An updated version of the resource, the HIV Treatment Response Prediction System (HIV-TRePS), is now freely available on the internet, and is based on a computer model that includes information gathered from 65,000 HIV-positive patients across the world.
Doctors enter information about their patients, including resistance to HIV drugs, antiretroviral treatment history, CD4 cell count, and viral load. The programme then suggests the five combinations of drugs which are likely to be most effective.
“HIV-TRePS is an innovative and important tool to improve the health of people with HIV”, said Dr Julio Montaner of the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS. His clinic was involved in the development of the resource.