HAART simplification with lopinavir/ritonavir monotherapy in HIV/HCV co-infected patients starting anti-HCV treatment: a randomised pilot study (KaMon study)

The aim of this randomised, prospective, open-label, multicentre pilot clinical trial was to compare the 48-week toxicity profile of lopinavir/ritonavir (LPV/r) monotherapy with LPV/r-based HAART (KaMon = Kaletra monotherapy) in HIV/HCV patients undergoing HCV treatment. The study involved 30 HIV/HCV co-infected patients naive to anti- HCV therapy. One patient in each arm (6.7%) discontinued anti-HCV therapy because of adverse events. There were no significant between-group differences in terms of the proportion of patients experiencing AEs (p=0.999) or the number of grade 3-4 AEs (p=0.146). No HIV failure was observed. The safety profile of LPV/r monotherapy was similar to that of LPV/r-based HAART, thus encouraging HAART simplification in patients receiving anti-HCV treatment.