Question
How long Biktarvy stays in the body after missed doses?
29 October 2019. Related: Adherence, All topics.
I’ve been skipping my meds, how long do they stay in my body for? I’m using Biktarvy.
Answer
The easy answer is that all three drugs in Biktarvy get very good drugs levels. They all leave the body slowly enough to cover any one missed dose, and possibly two (it is however better to still take this medication daily).
This is especially true after someone has been taking Biktarvy every day for several weeks. This is because the drug levels get steadily higher each day until they reach something called “steady state”.
The time it takes for drugs to leave the body varies for each drug and each body compartment, but is linked to the half-life. This is the time it takes for a drug level to drop by 50% from the early highest peak level. It then takes 5 x half-life for a drug to be effectively eliminated from the body.
The half life of every drug should be included in the detailed product leaflet (SPC) – links to these are included for each drug here:
https://i-base.info/guides/
Bictegravir has a plasma half-life period of 17.3 hours allowing for once daily dosing in combination with FTC and TAF which have intracellular half-lives of 39 and 150 hours respectively.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
Hi Faye, you do not need to go to the emergency room. Do you know what your family members viral load was when they came out of hospital?
It is best to now start with the Biktarvy and make sure a time is chosen that will suit them taking it at the same time each day.
Missing 3 days is unlikely to have any significant impact on your family members treatment. Do you know when they next have a viral load test booked?
We are new to a family member having HIV who recently just got released from the hospital. We didn’t realize that he needed it to take biktarvi daily and as a result he’s missed a total of three days at this point should we go to emergency overall he’s doing OK and doesn’t seem to have any issues.
Hi Sean, thank you for your suggestion. Though of note, it is safe to do it in one move. As Jose is looking to move from the morning to the evening he would do so by taking an 8am dose, then miss the following mornings dose to instead have it at the preferred time in the evening. Biktarvy remains in the body for a long time (more than 24 hours). The additional 12 hours to wait on this one occasion is not going to be of any risk and allows the medication regimen to be changed as soon as possible.
Jose,
I’m not an expert and you should get an experts opinion
That being said I believe the best way would be to change the time as gradually as possible.
And maybe instead of taking it a little later every day, maybe take it a little earlier every day.
But I would guess the more gradually you change the time the better. I wouldn’t change in increments more than an hour
Hi Jose,
Please see your answer here https://i-base.info/qa/15353.
I normally take biktarvy at 8am and would like to switch to taking the pill in the late evening. What’s the best way to change this?