Long-term tolerability and effectiveness of raltegravir in Japanese patients: Results from post-marketing surveillance

Antiretroviral agents are approved in Japan based on non-clinical and clinical data reported from overseas. Neither the long-term tolerability nor the effectiveness of raltegravir or other integrase strand transfer inhibitors in Japan is known. This study reports on the long-term tolerability and effectiveness of raltegravir in Japanese clinical practice using data collected through approximately 9 years of post-marketing surveillance. This observational survey used data on human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected patients initiated treatment with raltegravir between 2008 and 2017 in the HIV-related drug (HRD) cooperative survey to assess the safety and effectiveness of raltegravir in real world clinical practice. There were totally 1,303 patients prescribed raltegravir across 30 institutions; 1,293 patients and 1,178 patients were included for the safety and effectiveness analyses, respectively. The overall risk of adverse drug reaction was 17.25%, with abnormal hepatic function and hyperlipidaemia (+ cell counts exceeded >500 cells/μL in treatment-naïve and treatment-experienced patients after 3 years and 4 years of treatment, respectively. In Japanese HIV patients, long-term treatment with raltegravir is well-tolerated and effective at viral suppression as measured by HIV-1 RNA levels and subsequent change in CD4+ cell counts. Such benefits can be expected for not only treatment-naïve but also treatment-experienced patients.