ANNOUNCER: The guidelines also make specific recommendations on what antiretroviral medicines to use and in what combinations.
BRIAN BOYLE, MD: There are two different classes of drugs under the DHHS guidelines. There are the strongly recommended drugs and there are the alternative drugs.
EDWIN DeJESUS, MD: The guidelines currently recommend the use of a non-nucleoside or a protease inhibitor in combination with two nucleosides. The non-nucleoside strongly recommended is Sustiva in combination with Epivir and AZT, Epivir and Viread or Zerit and Epivir. The protease inhibitors are Kaletra in combination with Epivir and either Zerit or AZT.
BRIAN BOYLE, MD: The alternative drugs could also be considered under certain circumstances. But the data supporting their use is not as strong as the drugs in the strongly recommended category.
ANNOUNCER: But research is constantly leading to new drugs and to new clinical practices.
EDWIN DeJESUS, MD: Unfortunately, by the time that the guideline becomes available, some new information is also available that, to some extent, may contradict some of the recommendations.
ANNOUNCER: To make sure the guidelines reflect the newest information, they are frequently reviewed.
BRIAN BOYLE, MD: The guidelines are constantly updated and they're updated because things change and things can change very rapidly. And so, at each conference, new data are presented and hopefully, over the years, new drugs are approved. And so, as that happens, the guidelines need to be revised to reflect that.
