Treatment Adherence clinical trials at UCSD

This study is a prospective single arm open label intervention study over 16 weeks using the DHFS and a telemedicine platform with persons living with HIV who are not virologically suppressed, admitted to UCSD Hillcrest Medical Center and initiating or restarting anti-retroviral therapy (ARVs). This proof of concept study will investigate the feasibility of using the DHFS in hospitalized individuals living with HIV to support ARV adherence. The Study intervention has an initiation phase of 2 weeks, a persistence phase of 14 weeks and a follow-up phase out to 48 weeks. Once study consent is obtained, the participant will receive a focused case navigation, psychiatric and substance abuse evaluation and will initiate digitized ARVs, either in hospital or at the AVRC within 14 days of hospital discharge, in collaboration with their providers. The study intervention will be considered to start from the point at which the DHFS is started. The study team will ensure the participants continue to utilize the DHFS both in hospital and after discharge. Following the 16 week intervention the study team will continue to follow participants to evaluate retention in care and viral suppression up to 48 weeks in collaboration with the outpatient care providers.

This study uses an ingestion sensor and a wearable sensor (worn as a patch on the skin), which are new Proteus Digital Health (PDH) technologies approved by the FDA, to collect information about patients taking their ARV medications. The wearable sensor records information, which is uploaded wirelessly to a mobile device and then to a secure computer. Together the sensors and the mobile device transmitting the information to the study computer are called a digital health feedback system (DHFS), which gives healthcare providers information about when patients have taken their ARV medications. The purpose of the study is to demonstrate that the DHFS is easy to use and acceptable to the HIV patient population; that patients will persist with its use; and that the system provides valid, accurate measures of adherence.