The NNRTI Response Study was a multi-country prospective cohort study that took place in Zambia, Thailand and Kenya from May

2005 to January 2007 [24]. The primary study objective was to assess the effectiveness of NNRTI-based ART in HIV-infected women who had previously received nevirapine prophylaxis in pregnancy compared with HIV-infected women who had never received nevirapine prophylaxis. We enrolled 878 women initiating NNRTI-based ART at antiretroviral clinics. Eligible participants were women aged ≥18 years who were antiretroviral-naïve and qualified to initiate ART according to each country’s national guidelines. In Zambia and Kenya, women who met any of the following criteria selleck chemicals llc I-BET-762 price were eligible: CD4 count <200/μL, WHO stage 4 disease regardless of CD4 count, or WHO stage 3 disease and CD4 count <350/μL. In Thailand, women with a CD4 count <200 cells/μL or an AIDS-defining illness were eligible. We excluded women who were pregnant, who had received ART other than single-dose nevirapine or zidovudine monotherapy for prevention of mother-to-child transmission, or who were not initiating NNRTI-based ART (e.g. women initiating protease inhibitor-based ART). First-line ART was stavudine or zidovudine plus lamivudine with either nevirapine

(n=820) or efavirenz (n=58). Twenty-six (45%) of the women who initiated efavirenz-based ART did so because of tuberculosis coinfection at enrolment. We restricted the present analysis of nevirapine-associated hepatotoxicity and rash to the 820 women who initiated nevirapine-based ART. Nevirapine was initiated at 200 mg once daily (half-dose) for 14 days and then increased to 200 mg twice daily. In Zambia and Kenya, proprietary (brand-name) formulations of antiretrovirals were used. In Thailand generic formulations were used, including GPO-VIR™, a fixed-dose combination of stavudine, lamivudine and nevirapine (Thailand Government SPTLC1 Pharmaceutical Organization, Bangkok, Thailand) [25]. In addition to ART, all participants received cotrimoxazole

prophylaxis and opportunistic infection treatment, if indicated. Participants were followed for 48 weeks on ART. At enrolment and at weeks 2, 4, 8, 16 and 24, participants had serum ALT and AST (transaminases) measured and were evaluated clinically for signs and symptoms of hepatitis and rash. Transaminases were quantified by absorbance photometry according to International Federation of Clinical Chemistry methods using commercial automated chemistry analysers, including Cobas Integra 400 (Roche, Basel, Switzerland) (Zambia), Cobas Integra 800 (Roche, Basel, Switzerland) (Rajavithi Hospital), Hitachi 917 (Roche, Basel, Switzerland) (Siriraj Hospital), and Humalyzer 2000 (Human GmbH, Wiesbaden, Germany) (Kenya).