There is a possible drug interaction between Tivicay and Sustiva when coadministered together. Do not combine these drugs alone. Talk to a medical specialist before using them. A doctor can prescribe you the right medicine after assessing your health.
Tivicay is a highly potent anti-HIV med belonging to the INSTI antiretroviral class of drugs. It has an active substance dolutegravir. It’s approved for use together with other antiretroviral meds for the treatment of HIV. This med is highly active against the virus replication process. It prevents the destruction of the immune function by suppressing the viral load and boosting the CD4+ cell count.
Dolutegravir is taken with or without food and is highly effective in treatment-experienced and treatment-naïve patients who have never taken an integrase inhibitor before [1].
Sustiva is an antiretroviral medicine approved to prevent HIV from infecting the CD4+ cells and multiplying. It’s used together with other ARV meds to fully suppress the viral load and boost the patient’s immune function. Its active substance, efavirenz, is from a class of drugs known as NNRTIs and highly active against the virus [2].
It’s advisable not to coadminister these two drugs alone. Combining them decreases dolutegravir exposure, and a dose increase of dolutegravir is recommended.
Coadministration of Sustiva and Tivicay decreases dolutegravir Cmax, AUC, and Ctrough by 39%, 57%, and 75% respectively. Dolutegravir does not affect the pharmacokinetics of efavirenz. If coadministered, in INSTI-naïve patients, it’s advisable to adjust the dose of dolutegravir to 50 mg twice daily.
It’s highly recommended to use an alternative combination that does not include metabolic inducers. A medical specialist prescription and monitoring is necessary when treating HIV under this drug combination [3].