• Time to development of a new or recurrent AIDS event, or time to death [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  

• Time to development of a new non HIV-related serious adverse event [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  
• Quality of life [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  
• Incidence of grade 3 or 4 clinical or laboratory adverse events [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  
• Changes in CD4 counts, viral load, resistance patterns [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  
• Process measures including hematologic profiles, electrolytes, renal, liver and pancreatic function and lipid levels. [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  

Primary Hypothesis:

Compared to patients in Standard Antiretroviral Therapy (ART), patients in Mega-ART assuming full compliance, will experience a 30% reduction in the hazard of reaching a clinical endpoint (AIDS event or death).

Secondary Hypotheses:

Time to development of a new, non-HIV related serious adverse event, health related quality of life, the incidence of grade 3 or 4 clinical or laboratory adverse events and changes in virological and immunological markers (CD4 cell count, viral load, resistance profiles) will vary between the different treatment strategies.

Interventions:

Eligible patients will be randomized to one of four treatment strategy arms:

1. No Antiretroviral Drug-Free Period (No ARDFP) and Standard-ART
2. No Antiretroviral Drug-Free Period (No ARDFP) and Mega-ART
3. Antiretroviral Drug-Free Period (ARDFP) and Standard-ART
4. Antiretroviral Drug-Free Period (ARDFP) and Mega-ART

Note: The 'first' randomization will be ARDFP vs No ARDFP. Patients randomized to No ARDFP will receive their 'second' randomization at the same time. However, patients randomized to an Antiretroviral Drug Free Period (ARDFP) will receive their 'second' randomized assignment (Standard or Mega-ART) at the end of the ARDFP.

This is the first trial of a Tri-National collaboration effort between the UK MRC, the Canadian CIHR and the VA CSP. The OPTIMA Trial was reviewed and approved by CSEC on October 12, 2000. The pre-kickoff meeting was held on March 21, 2001 in Washington, DC. The VA study kickoff meeting was held in Dallas, TX on May 16-18, 2001 and the Canadian kickoff was held in Toronto on May 29, 2001. The UK will have individual site initiation. As of October 17, 2005 there have been 357 patients enrolled in OPTIMA, at 64 sites in the three countries (279 in the VA, 41 in Canada and 37 in the UK). To date there are 64 sites actively participating in the study (24 in the VA, 19 in UK and 21 in Canada).