RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: Dual therapy regimen might be an effective alternative to prevent the occurrence of side effects and comorbidities associated with prolonged treatment with antiretroviral (ARV) and a way of simplification of antiretroviral therapy (ART) to improve adherence in certain patients. It also represents a potential treatment option for patients who have failed previous TAR. METHODS: The aim of the study is to describe the effectiveness, adherence and costs of dual therapy regimen used in pretreated HIV patients in tertiary hospital. RESULTS: Thirty-eight patients were studied (eight were excluded). Reasons for simplification to dual therapy were previous treatment toxicity (40%), simplification (36.67%) and virological rescue (20%). The dual therapy regimens most used were: IP/r + INSTIs (26.67%), IP/r + NRTIs (23.33%), IP/r + NNR-TIs (23.33%), IP/r+ CCR5 (16.66%) e INSTIs + NNRTIs (10%). ARV more used were darunavir/ritonavir (DRV/r) + raltegravir (23.33 %); DRV/r + lamivudine (20%) y DRV/r + etravirine (16.67 %). Adherence was 86.79% before switching to dual therapy and 96.27% after switching. The cost savings of switching to dual therapy of these patients was 3,635.16. CONCLUSIONS: Dual therapy with IP/r might be an effective alternative to selected treatment experienced patients compared with conventional therapy.