ViiV Healthcare’s integrase inhibitor Tivicay (dolutegravir) effectively fights HIV even when people have taken HIV meds before and have resistance to nucleotide/nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs, or nukes). In various Phase III trials of regimens based on Tivicay, none of the participants who were new to HIV treatment and who took the drug with two nukes developed any drug resistance through 48 weeks or 96 weeks of treatment. In one study among people who’d been treated before but not with integrase inhibitors, 71 percent of those taking Tivicay-based regimens had a fully suppressed viral load after 48 weeks, compared with 64 percent of those taking Isentress (raltegravir)- based regimens. Among those in this study who had resistance to the nukes Epivir (lamivudine) and Emtriva (emtricitabine) and who took either of those drugs and a second nuke as a background regimen, none experienced virologic failure on Tivicay, while 33 percent of those taking Isentress did.