Alcohol can be used with Prezcobix since it won’t interact with the drug’s active ingredients [1]. However, it’s very important that you don’t mix alcohol with the drug without consulting a doctor.
Prezcobix is a drug approved by the FDA for the treatment of HIV as a part of combined therapy. The drug is a combination of a CYP3A inhibitor (cobicistat) and an HIV-1 protease inhibitor (darunavir). The latter, which is an antiretroviral medicine, prevents the virus from multiplying, and cobicistat slows down the breakdown of such medicines by enzymes in your liver [2]. This facilitates the safe and effective usage of ARVs at lower doses.
Prezcobix cannot be used to cure HIV. For the drug to work as expected, it is important that you adhere to the required prescription without skipping any doses. Taking more or fewer tabs may cause a viral load to increase or side effects to worsen, making it more difficult to treat HIV infection.
While alcohol doesn’t interact with Prezcobix, it’s considered a drug because it reduces nerve signals on a neural pathway by elevating the inhibitory neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) [3]. As a result, it lowers physical and cognitive capabilities. The impact of alcohol in the treatment of HIV is paramount because it affects the decision-making abilities of the patients, and thus they are more likely to fail to adhere to the prescription.
Excessive use of alcohol is known to accelerate liver disease, therefore amplifying some of the side effects of Prezcobix. Since the hallmark of HIV infection is immunosuppression, patients with HIV who use alcohol excessively may be infected with other pathogens due to more reckless behavior and failure to take proper care of their health. Alcohol use is also considered a barrier to treatment adherence. Irregular compliance with a proper HIV regimen leads to drug resistance [2].