Guides

darunavir

12 April 2016. Related: ARVs, PIs.

800 mg formulation shown

da-RUN-na-veer

  • Darunavir (tradename Prezista in Europe, developed as TMC-114) is a protease inhibitor that needs to be boosted (by 14 times) with another drug – either ritonavir or cobicistat.
  • Dose. Different doses are currently recommended if darunavir is being used in your first combination or if you have used HIV treatment before.
    • If this is your first treatment the standard dose is 1 x 800 mg tablets plus either 100 mg ritonavir or 150 mg cobicistat, once daily.
    • For people who have used HIV treatment before: 1 x 600 mg tablet plus 100 mg ritonavir, both twice-daily.
  • Darunavir needs to be taken with food. Even with ritonavir boosting, food is needed to boost these levels by another 30%. The type of food is not important according to the EU patient information.
  • Side effects: nausea, rash, diarrhoea, lipodystrophy and lipid changes.
  • Other notes: when compared to Kaletra, darunavir had lower rates of nausea, diarrhoea and lipid changes.This is a sulfa-containing drug, and should be used with caution in by people with a known sulfa allergy.
  • Darunavir plus cobicistat are coformuated in a single pill call Prezcobix.

Further information

The European patient information and detailed Product Information for darunavir are available from this link at the European Medicines Agency (EMA) website. Direct PDF link.

The Patient Information is a simplified summary: what the drug is, why it is used, results from studies and cautions including side effects.

The Product Information is a detailed technical summary that you can access as a PDF file by clicking the ‘Product Information’ tab. It describes more precisely how the drug works and how it is processed by your body. This includes, for example, reported food interaction studies in terms of calories or fat content. It includes more details of the study results and a full list of side effects and drug interactions.