Sustiva and Stribild medications cannot be combined. Coadministering the drugs may result in an adverse interaction [1].
Sustiva is a drug used in the treatment of HIV. Its active component known as efavirenz inhibits reverse transcriptase enzyme activities that help HIV to replicate. This drug does not cure HIV or AIDS, but it helps stop the infection of healthy cells in the body. Efavirenz is administered during ARV treatment for HIV-positive adults and children over 3 months old. Efavirenz is also prescribed to reduce the risk of HIV infection when combined with other antiretroviral drugs as part of an extended prevention regimen for people at significant risk. These tabs should not be used as an independent medicine since the resistance of human immunodeficiency virus to the active substance is quickly developed [2].
Stribild is an antiretroviral drug used to treat and manage HIV in adults and children who meet certain requirements specified by healthcare providers. It’s used by patients who haven’t used ARVs previously and have no risk of developing resistance to the active ingredients that the drug contains. Stribild can also replace existing HIV-1 treatment in adults with undetectable viral loads. The active ingredients in this med are tenofovir, elvitegravir, emtricitabine, and cobicistat. Elvitegravir is an HIV integrase inhibitor, and cobicistat is a pharmacokinetic enhancer that is also used to prolong the effect of elvitegravir. All the substances together provide a complete treatment regimen for HIV [3].
Both of these medicines contain NNRTIs, thus can’t be used together. Stribild should be used as a total regimen for treating HIV-1. It should not be administered with other HIV drugs like Sustiva. Potential interactions include altered pharmacokinetics of elvitegravir, cobicistat or the coadministered HIV drug. When switching patients with poor CYP2B6 metabolism from an efavirenz regimen to Stribild, lower elvitegravir exposure may occur [4].