Triumeq and Stribild are HIV treatment drugs that cannot be used together. Adverse interactions may occur when lamivudine and emtricitabine are combined [3].
Triumeq belongs to a group of antiretroviral meds intended for the treatment of HIV. It has three active components, namely dolutegravir, lamivudine, and abacavir. All of them inhibit the development and action of viral agents in the body. After oral administration, dolutegravir interacts with integrase enzymes. As a result, retroviral DNA insertion is blocked and inhibition of HIV replication occurs. The remaining two drug components of the pill act as potent selective reverse transcriptase inhibitors. These tabs improve the well-being of a patient, though they don’t cure the infection [1].
Stribild is a drug used to treat HIV in patients who haven’t previously used antiretroviral drugs and have no risk of developing resistance to the active ingredients of this med. It can also be used to replace an existing HIV-1 regimen in adults with undetectable viral loads. The active ingredients in Stribild are elvitegravir, cobicistat, emtricitabine, and tenofovir. Elvitegravir is an HIV integrase inhibitor, and cobicistat is a pharmacokinetic enhancer that is also used to prolong the effect of elvitegravir. The substances combined together provide a complete treatment for HIV [2].
Lamivudine and emtricitabine may inhibit the intracellular phosphorylation of one another to their respective active derivative in vivo. This could result in diminished antiretroviral effects of these drugs. However, clinical experience on the coadministration of cytidine analogs is lacking [3]. This interaction may also occur with zalcitabine. In addition, the therapeutic efficacy of these drugs in combination appears limited, since lamivudine and emtricitabine have similar resistance profiles via mutation of the same viral reverse transcriptase gene (M184V). The use of the cytidine analog NRTIs lamivudine and emtricitabine in any combination in an antiretroviral treatment regimen that consists of two NRTIs is not recommended. Local antiretroviral treatment experts should be consulted for current practice [3].