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HIV-treatment 'booster drugs' are most likely to have dangerous interactions with methamphetamine, mephedrone, MDMA and ketamine
Roger Pebody, 2015-08-24 08:40:00
The two drugs involved in HIV treatment that are most likely to have dangerous interactions with recreational and 'chemsex' drugs are the two that do not have direct anti-HIV effects themselves but are used to boost other drugs - ritonavir (Norvir) and cobicistat (Tybost).
Cobicistat is also a component of the combination pills Stribild (with elvitegravir, tenofovir and emtricitabine), Prezcobix (with darunavir) and Evotaz (with atazanavir). Ritonavir is often given by itself to take alongside protease inhhibitors and is also present in Kaletra/Aluvia (with lopinavir) and also in the Viekira Pak two-pill hepatitis C treatment.
While there is the potential for some directly-acting HIV drugs to interact dangerously with recreational and ‘party’ drugs, there is less cause for concern about most others than these two booster drugs. Moreover not all recreational drugs have interactions with anti-HIV drugs.
Clinicians need to be aware of the detail of this information so that they can give their patients useful advice, say the authors of an expert review published in the August 24 issue of AIDS. Given that many individuals will continue to take recreational drugs despite medical advice not to, clinicians should consider switching some patients to antiretroviral drug regimens with a lower risk of drug interactions, they recommend.
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