Question
Will taking PEP sooner than 24 hours in-between doses reduce its effectiveness?
12 July 2022. Related: Adherence, All topics, PEP/PEPSE.
I am on PEP medication after potential exposure. I took my first dose at 14th hour ie 7PM. However, I took my second dose at 4:30 PM… I am currently on 4th day… and regularly taking medicine at 4:30 PM… Will taking the medicine 2.5 hrs reduce its effectiveness.
Answer
Hi, how are you doing?
No. Your PEP will still be effective. Taking it slightly earlier is better than later. This means there is still active drug within your body.
Now that you are taking it regularly at 4:30pm it is best to keep to this routine. It will still work as well as if you were taking it at 7:30pm every day.
Josh.
Hi Nkosinathi, as long as PEP is started with 72 hours of the exposure it will be effective. For more information please see here: https://i-base.info/qa/factsheets/pep-faq
If i start pep 14 hours later does it work?