Orlistat/Selected Antiretrovirals Interactions
This information is generalized and not intended as specific medical advice. Consult your healthcare professional before taking or discontinuing any drug or commencing any course of treatment.
Medical warning:
Serious. These medicines may interact and cause very harmful effects. Contact your healthcare professional (e.g. doctor or pharmacist) for more information.
How the interaction occurs:
Orlistat decreases the amount of the HIV medicine that your body absorbs.
What might happen:
The level of HIV medicine in your blood may decrease, making it less effective. This may increase the risk of your HIV medicine not working.
What you should do about this interaction:
Tell your healthcare professionals (e.g. doctor or pharmacist) that you are taking these medicines together. Your doctor may want to check your HIV viral load levels more often while you are taking them together.Your healthcare professionals may already be aware of this interaction and may be monitoring you for it. Do not start, stop, or change the dosage of any medicine before checking with them first.
- 1.Xenical (orlistat) US prescribing information. Roche Laboratories, Inc. November, 2022.
- 2.de Truchis P, Mathez D, Abe E, Dinh A, Ledu D, Greder-Belan A, Alvarez JC. Cerebrospinal fluid HIV-1 virological escape with lymphocytic meningitis under lopinavir/ritonavir monotherapy. AIDS 2010 May 15;24(8):1235-6.
- 3.Gervasoni C, Cattaneo D, Di Cristo V, Castoldi S, Gervasi E, Clementi E, Riva A. Orlistat: weight lost at cost of HIV rebound. J Antimicrob Chemother 2016 Jun;71(6):1739-41.
- 4.Kent SJ. Loss of control of HIV viremia associated with the fat malabsorption drug orlistat. AIDS Res Hum Retroviruses 2012 Sep; 28(9):961-2.
- 5.Cope RJ, Fischetti BS, Kavanagh RK, Lepa TM, Sorbera MA. Safety and Efficacy of Weight-Loss Pharmacotherapy in Persons Living with HIV: A Review of the Literature and Potential Drug-Drug Interactions with Antiretroviral Therapy. Pharmacotherapy 2019 Dec;39(12):1204-1215.
Selected from data included with permission and copyrighted by First Databank, Inc. This copyrighted material has been downloaded from a licensed data provider and is not for distribution, except as may be authorized by the applicable terms of use.
CONDITIONS OF USE: The information in this database is intended to supplement, not substitute for, the expertise and judgment of healthcare professionals. The information is not intended to cover all possible uses, directions, precautions, drug interactions or adverse effects, nor should it be construed to indicate that use of a particular drug is safe, appropriate or effective for you or anyone else. A healthcare professional should be consulted before taking any drug, changing any diet or commencing or discontinuing any course of treatment.