tipranavir

26 August 2012. Related: ARVs, PIs.

tip-RAN-a-veer

• Tipranavir (tradename Aptivus) is a protease inhibitor that needs to be boosted with a separate dose of ritonavir.
• Standard adult dose: 2 x 250 mg capsules, plus 2 x 100 mg ritonavir, both twice-daily.
• Tipranavir is only used in people with drug resistance to other protease inhibitors. It not used for first combinations.
• Tipranavir needs to be taken with food.
• Side effects: changes in lipids (blood fat) which should be routinely monitored, lipodystrophy (fat accumulation), diarrhoea, tiredness, nausea. May increase the risk of bleeding in the brain and liver problems.
• Other notes: this is a sulfa-containing drug, and should be used with caution by people with a known sulfa allergy.

Further information

Information on lipodystrophy from the i-Base side effects guide.

The European patient information and detailed Product Information for tipranavir are available from this link on the European Medicines Agency (EMA) website.

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.