Side-effects

Side-effects features

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  Efavirenz and the brain: are we nearer to solving a mysterious side-effect?

  One of the most potent HIV drugs, efavirenz, unfortunately also causes mysterious and sometimes chronic disruptions of mood, thought and sleep. Researchers may have found the key to...

  From:  HIV treatment update

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  Growing pain

  As people with HIV live longer, they are facing pains old and new. David McLay reports on peripheral neuropathy and arthritis....

  From:  HIV treatment update

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  Managing kidney disease in people living with HIV

  Part of a series on kidney disease in resource-limited settings. This edition looks at assessment and management of kidney disease in people with HIV....

  From:  HIV & AIDS treatment in practice

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  Acute and chronic kidney disease

  Part of a series on kidney disease in resource-limited settings. This edition looks at the causes and prevalence of acute and chronic kidney disease in...

  From:  HIV & AIDS treatment in practice

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  HIV and the kidneys

  It’s becoming increasingly clear that, when it comes to HIV, amongst the most vulnerable organs in the body are those two little waste filters in the small...

  From:  HIV treatment update

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  Will a long life be a good one?

  People with HIV are now living into old age – an old age many regard with fear, as Lisa Power from the Terrence Higgins Trust finds...

  From:  HIV treatment update

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  Skeleton key: a guide to HIV-related bone loss

  Many people with HIV are at risk of osteoporosis – a progressive thinning of the bones that can lead to breakage. Derek Thaczuk looks at who...

  From:  HIV treatment update

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  Body fat changes in people with HIV: a clinical review

  This article reviews the antiretroviral side-effect of lipoatrophy (fat loss) in resource-limited settings....

  From:  HIV & AIDS treatment in practice

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  Switching from efavirenz to nevirapine in women with higher CD4 counts

  This issue provides an overview of the risks and benefits, and real-life experiences, of switching from efavirenz to nevirapine in women with higher CD4 counts,...

  From:  HIV & AIDS treatment in practice

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  Peripheral neuropathy in people with HIV in resource-limited settings

  This article provides an overview of peripheral neuropathy in people with HIV, resulting from the toxic side effects of medication, diabetes or other condtions...

  From:  HIV & AIDS treatment in practice

Side-effects in your own words

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  Peripheral neuropathy – the sting in the tail

  To begin: It is estimated that between 30% and 40% of HIV patients will develop neuropathy. In the United States alone, there are 20 million sufferers (from...

  From: In your own words

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  Living with peripheral neuropathy

  I didn’t know, at first, why my feet hurt so bad. I would wake up every 90 minutes or so every night. Because of the ‘way’ they...

  From: In your own words

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  Starting treatment wasn't as scary as I thought!

  I started learning about HIV treatment soon after I was first diagnosed. I had ‘the chat’ with someone, after I got my results – I...

  From: In your own words

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  Getting into the habit

  I try to take my HIV drugs at the same time every day, just before bed. I used to set an alarm on my mobile,...

  From: In your own words

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  Holiday hassles and HRT

  A much-needed holiday. Tickets, passports, driving licence – all go in my hand luggage. I leave the toiletry bag out till the last minute. I...

  From: In your own words

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  'I just take the tablets and get on with my life'

  I was diagnosed HIV-positive in 1997. I'm now 65. It was a bit of a shock. It could never happen to me, after all. I...

  From: In your own words

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  Starting treatment

  Following my HIV diagnosis in August 2001, my doctor estimated that I would be looking to start therapy in around six years. But following a...

  From: In your own words

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  Life on HIV treatment – a personal perspective

  I’ve been taking HIV treatment for ten years – that's longer than the average life expectancy of someone with HIV when I was diagnosed back in 1991. I’ve...

  From: In your own words

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  My life with HIV

  I was born in Zambia in 1973 and came to England in April 1994 to live with my cousin to help her look after her...

  From: In your own words

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  Time will tell

  I was devastated when I got the news that I was HIV-positive. But I was lucky to have such a supportive GP. It was thanks...

  From: In your own words

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  Finally undetectable!

  After almost 15 years of HIV, and six years of viral load testing, I heard on Thursday, June 21st 2001 that my viral load had...

  From: In your own words

Side-effects news from aidsmap

• Genetics make a large contribution to cardiovascular risk for people with HIV

  Genetic background has a major impact on the risk of coronary artery disease for people with HIV, results of a large study published in the online edition of Clinical Infectious Diseases show. An unfavourable genetic background increased the risk of ...

  24 April 2013 | Michael Carter

• Almost three-quarters of people starting HIV therapy in Tanzania have dyslipidemia after three years of treatment

  Approximately 75% of HIV-positive patients in Tanzania had lipid abnormalities three years after starting antiretroviral therapy, research published in the online edition of Clinical Infectious Diseases shows. The study involved 6385 people starting first-line HIV therapy in Dar ...

  28 March 2013 | Michael Carter

• Dual CCR5/CCR2 inhibitor cenicriviroc has anti-inflammatory as well as anti-HIV effect

  Cenicriviroc, which blocks both CCR5 and CCR2 receptors on immune cells, is effective against HIV, better tolerated than current antiretrovirals and has immunomodulatory activity that may reduce inflammation, according to a presentation yesterday at the 20th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI ...

  06 March 2013 | Liz Highleyman

• Small risk of neurological birth defects due to efavirenz confirmed in French cohort

  A large French study has found an elevated risk of some birth defects in children born to women exposed to some antiretroviral drugs during the first trimester of pregnancy, French researchers reported on 5 March at the 20th Conference ...

  06 March 2013 | Keith Alcorn

• Tenofovir, atazanavir/ritonavir and Kaletra associated with kidney problems in patients taking HIV therapy

  Data from a large study into the safety of anti-HIV drugs suggest that the antiretrovirals tenofovir (Viread, also in Truvada, Atripla and Eviplera), atazanavir (Reyataz) and lopinavir/ritonavir (Kaletra) each have an independent association with a decline in kidney function. ...

  15 February 2013 | Michael Carter

• Pregnancy does not increase risk of nevirapine side-effects

  Pregnancy does not increase the risk of nevirapine (Viramune) associated side-effects, according to the results of a systematic review and meta-analysis published in the online edition of AIDS. Investigators found that incidence of liver and skin toxicities – the major side-effects ...

  07 February 2013 | Michael Carter

• Tenofovir impairs enzyme that stops cells ageing

  A team of Australian researchers has found that tenofovir and, to a lesser extent, other drugs from the nucleoside/nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI) class, impairs an enzyme that slows down or stops ageing processes in immune cells in the test ...

  31 January 2013 | Gus Cairns

• Systematic review confirms that efavirenz is a safer option than nevirapine for adults and children starting HIV therapy

  Efavirenz is a safer option than nevirapine for adults and children starting antiretroviral therapy, according to the results of a meta-analysis published in the online edition of AIDS. Treatment discontinuations were twice as likely among people treated with nevirapine (Viramune) ...

  29 January 2013 | Michael Carter

• Australian researchers project that many HIV-positive people will run out of treatment options

  Running out of antiretroviral treatment options may severely curtail the life expectancy of people with HIV in resource-rich countries, according to Australian research published in the online edition of AIDS. The research expands upon a study ...

  22 January 2013 | Michael Carter

• Large study shows the hepatic safety of HIV therapy

  Results from a large study published in the online edition of Clinical Infectious Diseases provide reassurance about the hepatic safety of antiretroviral drugs. Investigators from the D:A:D study into the side-effects of HIV treatment found that liver-related deaths caused by ...

  22 January 2013 | Michael Carter

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Side-effects news selected from other sources

• Europe: Medicines under additional monitoring

  The European Medicines Agency has published today the initial list of medicines under additional monitoring. These medicines are being monitored even more intensively than other medicines. This is generally because there is less information available on it than on other medicines, for example because it is new to the market or there is limited data on its long-term use. It does not mean that the medicine is unsafe.

  26 April 2013 | European Medicines Agency

• Scientists explore mystery of a psychedelic HIV/AIDS drug

  For those taking antiretroviral medications for HIV/AIDS, there is one drug in the mix that can put a particular kick in the cocktail: the drug efavirenz, marketed under the commercial names Sustiva and Stocrin, appears to have an "LSD-like interaction" with the receptors in the brain that govern the activity of serotonin, says a study presented in Boston today.

  23 April 2013 | Los Angeles Times

• EU new drug approval studies "have too few patients to evaluate safety"

  For medicines intended for chronic use, the number of patients studied before regulatory approval in the European Union (EU) is insufficient to properly evaluate safety and long-term efficacy, and this points to a need for new EU legislation, say researchers writing in this week's PLOS Medicine.

  22 March 2013 | Pharma Times

• Long-term efavirenz linked to worse neurocognitive function in US CHARTER group

  Long-term treatment with an efavirenz-based regimen correlated with worse neurocognitive function than did treatment with lopinavir/ritonavir, according to results of a retrospective case-control comparison within the US CHARTER cohort.

  07 March 2013 | EATG / NATAP

• Intelence (etravirine) labeling updates

  On February 27, 2013, FDA approved changes to the Intelence (etravirine) label to include revisions to the Warnings and Precautions, Adverse Reactions, and Postmarketing Experience sections to include information regarding drug rash with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS), to update Adverse Reaction section with information regarding the occurrence of rash in men vs. women and pediatric patients and to add drug interaction information for artemether/lumefantrine and telaprevir

  02 March 2013 | US Food and Drug Administration

• Tenofovir May Raise Risk of Kidney Damage, but Effect Tapers Over Time

  Tenofovir raises the risk of kidney dysfunction among people with HIV, but the adverse effect occurs mostly within the first two years of therapy.  

  14 February 2013 | AIDSMeds

• Recent changes to the Reyataz (atazanavir sulfate) capsule labeling

  Recently FDA approved changes to the Reyataz (atazanavir sulfate) capsule labeling to include the following changes. Section 5 Warnings and Precautions was revised to include cholelithiasis as follows.

  11 February 2013 | FDA

• Mark S. King: I'm Gonna Wipe That AIDS Right Off My Face

  It was all well and good to be front and center as an HIV-positive man during the first years of the AIDS crisis. It's easier being a role model when your face looks good on the poster. But then, slowly but surely, a common side effect of HIV medications, facial wasting, began to appear.

  30 January 2013 | Huffington Post

• Neuropathy and HIV: A Progress Report

  Neuropathy affects up to 40% of all people with HIV, yet the treatment has remained more or less the same for decades. Prescribing drugs meant for other diseases, has led to haphazard results; time for a change - but is it happening?

  11 January 2013 | PositiveLite

• FDA clears Salix anti-diarrhoeal for HIV patients

  The US Food and Drug Administration has approved the first anti-diarrhoeal drug specifically for people with HIV, Salix Pharmaceuticals Ltd.'s Fulyzaq. The drug, also known as crofelemer, is meant to relieve symptoms of noninfectious diarrhoea in people with HIV on antiretroviral therapy. Fulyzaq is derived from the red sap of the Croton lechleri plant and is the second botanical prescription drug approved by the FDA. However, although crofelemer produced a 55% reduction in watery diarrhoea in people with HIV on ART who chronically suffered from it, this only means that 17.6% of patients improved during the study period rather than 8% given a placebo.

  02 January 2013 | MarketWatch

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