Darunavir: Review of its Efficacy as a Therapeutic Option for Treatment-Naïve and Treatment-Experienced Adults and Adolescents

Darunavir is a next-generation protease inhibitor that demonstrates potent in vitro activity against wild type strains of HIV type-1, as well as against numerous strains resistant to available protease inhibitors. Numerous trials conducted in naïve and in the ­treatment-experienced­HIV-infected­individuals­have­significantly­demonstrated­greater­virological­suppression­when­darunavir­was­ added to an optimized background treatment compared with a control protease inhibitors. The drug is taken as two 400 mg tablets once daily plus 100 mg of ritonavir in naïve patients, while is taken as two 300 mg tablets plus 100 mg of ritonavir twice daily in experienced patients.­Darunavir­has­a­high­genetic­barrier­and­has­a­distinct­resistance­profile.­Darunavir­resistance-associated­mutations­have­been­ defined­as­V11I,­V32I,­L33F,­I47V,­I50V,­I54L/M,­T74P,­L76V,­I84V,­and­L89V.­The­major­adverse­effects­of­darunavir­therapy­are­ nausea, diarrhea and rash; and as others protease inhibitors, increase of triglycerides and total cholesterol.