One Third on First-Line Antiretrovirals have Serious Drug Interaction (Article 11‪)‬

About one third of HIV-positive people studied at Albany Medical Center had an important drug-drug interaction involving one of the medications in a first antiretroviral combination that included a protease inhibitor (PI), a nonnucleoside (NNRTI), or the integrase inhibitor Isentress (raltegravir). (1) Drug-drug interactions were more frequent among people taking a PI or an NNRTI than among people taking Isentress. Because of the way drugs are processed in the body, certain medications can greatly raise or lower levels of other drugs taken at the same time. Drugs that have low levels in the body may not work, and drugs that have high levels may cause more side effects or more severe side effects.