Impact of Therapeutic Drug Monitoring of Antiretroviral Drugs in Routine Clinical Management of People Living with HIV: A Narrative Review

BACKGROUND: The treatment of HIV infection has evolved significantly since the advent of highly active antiretroviral therapy. As a result, a response rate of 90%-95% now represents a realistically achievable target. Given this background, it is difficult to imagine the additional benefits that therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) could provide in the management of HIV infection. METHODS: This article is not intended to provide a systematic literature review on TDM of antiretroviral agents; rather, the authors aim to discuss the potential added value of TDM in the optimal management of people living with HIV (PLWH) in selected real-life clinical scenarios based on data collected over 10 years by their TDM service. RESULTS: Some clinical situations, in which the selection of the optimal antiretroviral therapy is challenging, have been identified. These include poorly compliant patients, suboptimal antiretroviral therapies (in terms of both efficacy and toxicity), polypharmacy with a high risk of drug-drug interactions, and different patient populations, such as pregnant women. CONCLUSIONS: The transformation of HIV infection from a near-universally fatal illness to a lifelong chronic disease has resulted in an HIV population that is growing and aging, placing new and increasing demands on public programs and health services. Increasingly, the management of comorbidities, polypharmacy, and drug-drug interaction, and their impact on antiretroviral therapy will have to be undertaken. These clinical settings represent some of the new frontiers for the use of TDM with the goal of achieving optimal prescription and outcome for PLWH.