Etravirine plasma exposure is associated with virological efficacy in treatment-experienced HIV-positive patients

•Higher etravirine concentrations and weighted genetic inhibitory quotients are associated with virological success.•We propose here two possible targets associated with efficacy: 300ng/mL for etravirine Ctroughs and 276ng/mL for wgIQ.•These data confirm etravirine genetic barrier and they support dose optimization in patients with limited options. Etravirine is a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor used in combination with other antiretrovirals for the treatment of HIV infection. Given previous conflicting results aim of this study was to investigate whether etravirine plasma exposure was associated with virological outcome. Adult HIV-positive patients starting etravirine with detectable HIV viral loads were included if highly adherent (276ng/mL/mutation (p=0.02) were associated with virological success; at multivariate Cox proportional analysis etravirine wgIQ