USA/UK/Canada AIDS OPTIMA drug study

A study is to begin June 1 which will evaluate the best treatmentstrategies for HIV-infected patients for whom antiretroviral therapy has failed.

The OPTIMA study will be the the first project undertaken by the new Tri-National Clinical Trials Research Initiative set up by the US Department of Veterans Affairs, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the UK Medical Research Council.

The researchers will test new strategies for the use of medicines available to treat HIV infection. They will also test whether pauses in antiretroviral treatment of an intended duration of three months will allow patients to recover enough from side effects to better tolerate new therapy and whether the virus will become more sensitive to the drugs. AIDS-related events and deaths will be a major focus of the research, which will also evaluate quality-of-life issues, health care resource use and cost-effectiveness. The final research protocol will involve around 1,700 patients at more than 70 sites over three and a half years, according to a statement issued by the partners.