Monitoring toxicity of ARVs

With rapid scale up of antiretroviral therapy (ART) and the increasing use of antiretrovirals (ARVs) to prevent HIV, the need to monitor toxicity of these drugs has increased substantially. Toxicity issues and adverse events associated with ARVs are currently identified only intermittently and not being widely reported. Yet, they are of critical importance when seeking to increase the impact of ART.

ARV toxicity monitoring not only addresses toxicity associated to the long-term use of ARVs, but also the use of ARVs during pregnancy and breastfeeding, in infants and children, and by people who use them mainly to prevent HIV infection, such as in serodiscordant couples.

WHO is developing improved approaches to toxicity monitoring, such as Targeted spontaneous reporting, ARV pregnancy registry and birth defect surveillance.