The New HIV drug| South African Youtuber

Hi guys so today I'm doing a health education on the New ARV drug that we have in the country.

Why people are excited about dolutegravir:

1.It is highly effective: 

Dolutegravir is very effective at suppressing someone’s viral load quickly (the amount of copies of HIV in the blood). This is important for the long-term health of the person taking it. An undetectable viral load also means a person will no longer be able to transmit HIV to anyone else.

2.It is well tolerated:

In clinical trials there have been far fewer side effects reported from people using dolutegravir as compared to people using the drug that dolutegravir will replace, efavirenz (EFV). This includes fewer central nervous system side effects such as depression and anxiety. The improved tolerability of dolutegravir should make it easier for people to adhere to treatment in the long term. While not totally free from side effects, it is a big step forward.It is easy to take: People only require a small dosage of dolutegravir. The small dose makes it ideal to combine in a single tablet with other antiretrovirals. It also means the pills can be much smaller.

3.It has few interactions with other medicines:

dolutegravir has fewer drug interactions compared to EFV. One interaction we know about is with the tuberculosis medicine rifampicin. This is important given high rates of TB and HIV co-infection. While more evidence is needed, right now people with HIV and TB are being given an increased dose of dolutegravir to account for the drug interaction. Another interaction is with a diabetes drug called metformin (where we drop the dose of metformin a little if used with dolutegravir). It also should not be taken at the same time as with antacids or food supplements, if possible (you can take these at a different time of the day).

4 It has a high barrier to resistance:

dolutegravir has a higher genetic barrier to developing drug resistance compared to efavirenz. This will reduce the need for people to switch treatment lines since it is anticipated that extremely few people will develop resistance to dolutegravir. This is also important for people who are already resistant to another type of antiretroviral medicine – called a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI).


5.It can be more affordable:

The smaller dose means less active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) is needed (the bit of the drug that actually works in the body).


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