Question
Has anyone reported peripheral neuropathy with injectable CAB/RPV-LA?
27 May 2025. Related: All topics, Injectable ART, Side effects.
I have been getting peripheral neuropathy symptoms (numbness in hands and feet) when using cabotegravir and rilpivirine injection. It has come on gradually and increased over time.
Has anyone else reported this side effect?
Answer
Hi there
Thanks for your question – and it hasn’t been asked here before.
I have reported the development of these meds and I haven’t heard this reported before. I also searched the full prescribing information for both meds and neuropathy isn’t mentioned.
This doesn’t mean this hasn’t happened or even hasn’t been reported before, because very rare side effects are often not included in these reports. However, neither of these types of drugs have been linked to neuropathy either, which makes it difficult to see a mechanism for how they could cause this.
What has your doctor said?
The first step would be for your doctor to test for the neuropathy and then look for other reasons this might have developed.
Advanced HIV can also cause neuropathy if you ever had a very low CD4 count, but the symptoms would normally start when the count was still low. Other mkedications can also cause these symptoms.
Depending on how severe your symptoms are, this might also include a referral for pain management.
If your doctor confirms your symptoms and can’t find another cause, switching to a different HIV combination would be the easiest practical next step. If any drug does cause neuropathy, the sooner you switch to an alternative, the sooner this side effect might resolve. This would need to be a switch for a few months though because drug-induced neuropathy sometimes continues for a while before symptoms get easier.
In the UK, your doctor could also contact the MHRA Yellow Card scheme for reporting side effects and ask whether any other similar reports have been made. If your symptoms reverse after switching to a different combination your doctor could also use the Yellow Card scheme to report your case.
You can also report this yourself.
This is a link to i-Base info about peripheral neuropathy:
https://i-base.info/guides/side/peripheral-neuropathy
This is a link to information about the Yellow Card scheme.
https://i-base.info/htb/2076
Outside the UK, a doctor can also contact the drug manufacturer directly to report any suspected side effect and to find out whether it has been reported before.
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