Warning for HIV-Hep C Co-infection: Certain Drugs Don't Mix with Victrelis!
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Merck Warns of Victrelis and HIV Protease Inhibitor Interactions
February 8, 2012
The hepatitis C protease inhibitor Victrelis (boceprevir) has some significant drug-drug interactions with common Norvir (ritonavir)-boosted protease inhibitor (PI) combinations, according to preliminary data from a clinical trial and a warning issued to health care providers by Merck on February 6.
Drug-drug interactions between HIV antiretrovirals (ARV) and the recently approved hepatitis C PIs Victrelis and Incivek (telaprevir) are an essential area of study, given that roughly one third of people living with HIV are coinfected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) and may wish to use either Victrelis or Incivek to boost the efficacy of pegylated interferon and ribavirin treatment. While neither Merck’s Victrelis nor Vertex’s Incivek is officially approved for people coinfected with HIV and HCV–coinfection studies are still being conducted–some clinicians have already started prescribing these drugs for their patients living with both viruses.
Because the HCV PIs are broken down (metabolized) by the same enzyme pathway responsible for processing many ARVs, thoroughly exploring potential drug-drug interactions and ways to circumvent potential problems has been a research priority.
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