Alternatives to Truvada and Descovy?

[Guest]

I really want to get on PrEP, but tenofivir interacts with another medication I take (carbamazepine), such that it becomes much less effective. Getting off of the other medication isn't really an option. Anyone know of an alternative regimen? Obviously it would be off-label and I'd probably need to go to a specialist to get it

[Close2MyBro]

12 hours ago, F32KLL said:

I really want to get on PrEP, but tenofivir interacts with another medication I take (carbamazepine), such that it becomes much less effective. Getting off of the other medication isn't really an option. Anyone know of an alternative regimen? Obviously it would be off-label and I'd probably need to go to a specialist to get it

I had to be taken off Tenofivir because it was affecting my kidney function. My doctor told me that there aren't that any other single drug options for prep and he had to put me on a regular Hiv regiment which usually adds a second class of drugs on top of the drugs usually given for prep. The combo he put me on is Epzicom and Edurant, both are kidney friendly but the only drawback with Epzicom is that you have to be tested to make sure you don't have a certain gene variation called HLA-B*5701. If you have it, you cannot use the drug as people with that gene mutation end up having life threatening reactions to it. It's worked well for me and my kidney function has improved and I've had no side effects from the regiment and I've been on it for six years now, so you might want to see if your doctor is open to it.

[rPup]

Cabotegravir is a new injectable that only requires monthly (or even less frequent) dosing.

As opposed to the current PrEP regiments consisting of “reverse transcriptase inhibitors” which convert HIV viral RNA into DNA, this is a “integrase strand transfer inhibitor” which prevents integration of viral RNA into the nucleus of a CD4 T-cell.

It’s approved for treatment currently in combination with long acting rilpivirine (an RTI) and on its own has been proven to work as PrEP.

[think before following links] [think before following links] https://www.who.int/news/item/20-05-2020-exciting-new-results-from-long-acting-prep-study-show-it-to-be-effective-in-preventing-hiv-acquisition-in-msm-and-transgender-women

Haven't seen it’s approval from the FDA as a PrEP alternative; I’m assuming that it’ll happen sooner or later.

Edited March 24, 2021 by R86
Added Hyperlink

[viking8x6]

Looks like cabotegravir injectable is now approved for PrEP

[think before following links] https://www.empr.com/home/news/fda-approves-apretude-a-long-acting-injectable-for-hiv-prep/