Taking it

The standard dose of abacavir (Ziagen) is one 300mg tablet twice a day, twelve hours apart, or once a day at a dose of 600mg. It can be taken with or without food.

A strawberry and banana-flavoured abacavir solution at a concentration of 20mg/ml is also available for use in children and adults who cannot take tablets. The oral solution of abacavir contains 340mg/l sorbitol. This means that the product is unsuitable for people with hereditary fructose intolerance. Sorbitol can also cause stomach upset and diarrhoea.

Abacavir is generally not recommended for people with cirrhosis or mild liver impairment because they are not able to process the drug properly and high drug levels occur. One study has recommended an abacavir dose of 150mg twice daily for people with liver damage, although there are no definitive recommendations on appropriate dose adjustments.^[1]

Abacavir should not be taken by people with end-stage kidney disease.

As with all anti-HIV drugs, it is important to take the drug as prescribed in order to maintain the right level of the drug in the blood. If blood levels of the drug fall too low, this will help the development of resistance to abacavir and may affect future treatment options.