Atripla(R)/anti-TB combination in TB/HIV patients. Drug in focus

BACKGROUND: Co-administration of anti-tuberculosis and antiretroviral therapy is often inevitable in high-burden countries where tuberculosis is the most common opportunistic infection associated with HIV/AIDS. Concurrent use of rifampicin and several antiretroviral drugs is complicated by pharmacokinetic drug-drug interaction. METHOD: Pubmed and Google search following the key words tuberculosis, HIV, emtricitabine, tenofovir efavirenz, interaction were used to find relevant information on each drug of the fixed dose combination Atripla(R) RESULTS: Information on generic name, trade name, pharmacokinetic parameter, metabolism and the pharmacokinetic interaction with Anti-TB drugs of emtricitabine, tenofovir, and efavirenz was obtained. CONCLUSION: Fixed dose combination of emtricitabine/tenofovir/efavirenz (ATRIPLA(R)) which has been approved by Food and Drug Administration shows promising results as far as safety and efficacy is concerned in TB/HIV co-infection patients, hence can be considered effective and safe antiretroviral drug in TB/HIV management for adult and children above 3 years of age.