THE SETPOINT STUDY - A RANDOMIZED STUDY OF THE EFFECT OF IMMEDIATE TREATMENT

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. This study is being done to learn if treating people during early HIV infection is beneficial. In other words, this study will evaluate how safe and effective a combination of anti-HIV drugs (Tenofovir DF, Emtricitabine and Kaletra) is for people with recently acquired HIV infection. It is known that combination anti-HIV drugs decreases the amount of virus in the blood (viral load) and improve the immune system. However, these drugs also have short-term and long-term side effects that are also considered when people decide whether or not to begin anti-HIV medicine. The opinions of HIV treatment experts regarding when to start anti-HIV medicine do change as we learn more about the anti-HIV drugs and their good and bad effects over time. The three drugs used in this study have been approved of by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of people with chronic HIV infection During this study, one group of people will be told to immediately begin taking anti-HIV drugs for 9 months. People who do not begin anti-HIV drugs, will start anti-HIV drugs only when their CD4+ count goes low or their viral load stays high for a long period of time. At the end of the study, the viral load in persons who received anti-HIV drugs at the beginning of the study will be compared to the viral load in persons who did not start anti-HIV drugs, to see if the persons who received the 9 months of treatment have a lower viral load. It is known that persons who keep lower viral loads tend to do better than persons with higher viral loads The study is designed so that anyone who needs treatment for HIV because of high viral load, immune system decline or symptoms related to HIV infection will be offered treatment.