Dolutegravir Plus Lamivudine Dual Therapy in Treatment Naïve HIV-1 Patients

This study was a phase II, single-arm, open-label pilot study designed to estimate the efficacy of dolutegravir (DTG) plus lamivudine (3TC) as initial combination ART (antiretroviral therapy) in HIV-1 infected treatment naive participants. The target enrollment was 120 participants with a cap of N=90 participants with screening HIV-1 RNA \<= 100,000 copies/mL. The study aimed to enroll \>= 20% women. The expected follow-up for each participant was 52 weeks. Visits occurred at screening, entry, and weeks 2, 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 32, 40, 48, and 52 from study entry. All signs/symptoms within 30 days prior to entry were recorded. Subsequently, grade 2 or higher rash and all other grade 3 or higher signs and symptoms were recorded. All participants underwent routine monitoring including plasma HIV-1 RNA levels, CD4+ cell count, hematology, chemistry, urinalysis, and pregnancy testing (for women of reproductive potential). Population-based protease (PR), reverse transcriptase (RT) and integrase genotyping were done at the time of confirmed virologic failure. Plasma samples were stored for potential future studies to assess the impact of adherence, drug-resistant minority viral variants, and DTG exposure on virologic and CD4+ cell count responses to DTG plus 3TC. All participants also underwent UGT1A1 genotyping.