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Importance of Co-administration with Ritonavir: PREZISTA must be co-administered with ritonavir and food to achieve the desired antiviral effect. Failure to administer PREZISTA with ritonavir and food may result in a loss of efficacy of darunavir.
Please refer to ritonavir prescribing information for additional information on precautionary measures.
Hepatotoxicity: Drug-induced hepatitis (e.g., acute hepatitis, cytolytic hepatitis) has been reported with PREZISTA/ritonavir. During the clinical development program (N=3063), hepatitis was reported in 0.5% of patients receiving combination therapy with PREZISTA/ritonavir. Patients with pre-existing liver dysfunction, including chronic active hepatitis B or C, have an increased risk for liver function abnormalities including severe hepatic adverse events.
Post-marketing cases of liver injury, including some fatalities, have been reported. These have generally occurred in patients with advanced HIV-1 disease taking multiple concomitant medications, having co-morbidities including hepatitis B or C co-infection, and/or developing immune reconstitution syndrome. A causal relationship with PREZISTA/ritonavir therapy has not been established.
Appropriate laboratory testing should be conducted prior to initiating therapy with PREZISTA/ritonavir and patients should be monitored during treatment. Increased AST/ALT monitoring should be considered in patients with underlying chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis, or in patients who have pre-treatment elevations of transaminases, especially during the first several months of PREZISTA/ritonavir treatment.
Evidence of new or worsening liver dysfunction (including clinically significant elevation of liver enzymes and/or symptoms such as fatigue, anorexia, nausea, jaundice, dark urine, liver tenderness, hepatomegaly) in patients on PREZISTA/ritonavir should prompt consideration of interruption or discontinuation of treatment.
Severe Skin Reactions: During the clinical development program (n=3063), severe skin reactions, accompanied by fever and/or elevations of transaminases in some cases, have been reported in 0.4% of subjects. Stevens-Johnson Syndrome was rarely (less than 0.1%) reported during the clinical development program. During post-marketing experience toxic epidermal necrolysis, drug rash with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms, and acute generalized exanthematous pustulosis have been reported. Discontinue PREZISTA/ritonavir immediately if signs or symptoms of severe skin reactions develop. These can include but are not limited to severe rash or rash accompanied with fever, general malaise, fatigue, muscle or joint aches, blisters, oral lesions, conjunctivitis, hepatitis and/or eosinophilia.
Rash (all grades, regardless of causality) occurred in 10.3% of subjects treated with PREZISTA/ritonavir [also see Adverse Reactions]. Rash was mostly mild-to-moderate, often occurring within the first four weeks of treatment and resolving with continued dosing. The discontinuation rate due to rash in subjects using PREZISTA/ritonavir was 0.5%.
Rash occurred more commonly in treatment-experienced subjects receiving regimens containing PREZISTA/ritonavir + raltegravir compared to subjects receiving PREZISTA/ritonavir without raltegravir or raltegravir without PREZISTA/ritonavir. However, rash that was considered drug related occurred at similar rates for all three groups. These rashes were mild to moderate in severity and did not limit therapy; there were no discontinuations due to rash.
Sulfa Allergy: Darunavir contains a sulfonamide moiety. PREZISTA should be used with caution in patients with a known sulfonamide allergy. In clinical studies with PREZISTA/ritonavir, the incidence and severity of rash were similar in subjects with or without a history of sulfonamide allergy.
Risk of Serious Adverse Reactions due to Drug Interactions: Initiation of PREZISTA/ritonavir, a CYP3A inhibitor, in patients receiving medications metabolized by CYP3A or initiation of medications metabolized by CYP3A in patients already receiving PREZISTA/ritonavir, may increase plasma concentrations of medications metabolized by CYP3A and reduce plasma concentrations of active metabolite(s) formed by CYP3A.
Initiation of medications that inhibit or induce CYP3A may increase or decrease concentrations of PREZISTA/ritonavir, respectively.
These interactions may lead to: Clinically significant adverse reactions, potentially leading to severe, life threatening, or fatal events from greater exposures of concomitant medications; Clinically significant adverse reactions from greater exposures of PREZISTA/ritonavir; Loss of therapeutic effect of the concomitant medications from lower exposures of active metabolite(s); Loss of therapeutic effect of PREZISTA/ritonavir and possible development of resistance from lower exposures of PREZISTA/ritonavir.
See Table 22 for steps to prevent or manage these possible and known significant drug interactions, including dosing recommendations [see Interactions]. Consider the potential for drug interactions prior to and during PREZISTA/ritonavir therapy; review concomitant medications during PREZISTA/ritonavir therapy; and monitor for the adverse reactions associated with the concomitant drugs [see Contraindications and Interactions].
Diabetes Mellitus / Hyperglycemia: New onset diabetes mellitus, exacerbation of pre-existing diabetes mellitus, and hyperglycemia have been reported during post-marketing surveillance in HIV-infected patients receiving protease inhibitor (PI) therapy. Some patients required either initiation or dose adjustments of insulin or oral hypoglycemic agents for treatment of these events. In some cases, diabetic ketoacidosis has occurred. In those patients who discontinued PI therapy, hyperglycemia persisted in some cases. Because these events have been reported voluntarily during clinical practice, estimates of frequency cannot be made and causal relationships between PI therapy and these events have not been established.
Fat Redistribution: Redistribution/accumulation of body fat, including central obesity, dorsocervical fat enlargement (buffalo hump), peripheral wasting, facial wasting, breast enlargement, and "cushingoid appearance" have been observed in patients receiving antiretroviral therapy.
The mechanism and long-term consequences of these events are currently unknown. A causal relationship has not been established.
Immune Reconstitution Syndrome: Immune reconstitution syndrome has been reported in patients treated with combination antiretroviral therapy, including PREZISTA. During the initial phase of combination antiretroviral treatment, patients whose immune systems respond may develop an inflammatory response to indolent or residual opportunistic infections (such as Mycobacterium avium infection, cytomegalovirus, Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia [PCP], or tuberculosis), which may necessitate further evaluation and treatment.
Autoimmune disorders (such as Graves' disease, polymyositis, Guillain-Barré syndrome, and autoimmune hepatitis) have also been reported to occur in the setting of immune reconstitution; however, the time to onset is more variable, and can occur many months after initiation of antiretroviral treatment.
Hemophilia: There have been reports of increased bleeding, including spontaneous skin hematomas and hemarthrosis in patients with hemophilia type A and B treated with PIs. In some patients, additional factor VIII was given. In more than half of the reported cases, treatment with PIs was continued or reintroduced if treatment had been discontinued. A causal relationship between PI therapy and these episodes has not been established.
Hepatic Impairment: No dosage adjustment of PREZISTA/ritonavir is necessary for patients with either mild or moderate hepatic impairment. No pharmacokinetic or safety data are available regarding the use of PREZISTA/ritonavir in subjects with severe hepatic impairment. Therefore, PREZISTA/ritonavir is not recommended for use in patients with severe hepatic impairment [see Patients with Hepatic Impairment under Dosage & Administration and Pharmacology: Pharmacokinetics: Special Populations: Hepatic Impairment under Actions].
Renal Impairment: Population pharmacokinetic analysis showed that the pharmacokinetics of darunavir were not significantly affected in HIV-infected subjects with moderate renal impairment (CrCL between 30-60 mL/min, n=20). No pharmacokinetic data are available in HIV-1-infected patients with severe renal impairment or end stage renal disease; however, because the renal clearance of darunavir is limited, a decrease in total body clearance is not expected in patients with renal impairment. As darunavir and ritonavir are highly bound to plasma proteins, it is unlikely that they will be significantly removed by hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis [see Pharmacology: Pharmacokinetics: Special Populations: Renal Impairment under Actions].
Use in Children: Not Recommended in Pediatric Patients Below 6 Years of Age: PREZISTA/ritonavir in pediatric patients below 6 years of age is not recommended in view of toxicity and mortality observed in juvenile rats dosed with darunavir (from 20 mg/kg to 1000 mg/kg) up to days 23 to 26 of age [see Pregnancy under Use in Pregnancy & Lactation, and Pharmacology: Pharmacokinetics under Actions].
The safety, pharmacokinetic profile, and virologic and immunologic responses of PREZISTA/ritonavir administered twice daily were evaluated in treatment-experienced HIV-1-infected pediatric subjects 3 to less than 18 years of age and weighing at least 10 kg. These subjects were evaluated in clinical trials TMC114-C212 (80 subjects, 6 to less than 18 years of age) and TMC114-228 (21 subjects, 3 to less than 6 years of age) [see Adverse Reactions, Pharmacology: Pharmacokinetics under Actions, and Pharmacology: Pharmacodynamics: Clinical Studies under Actions]. Frequency, type, and severity of adverse drug reactions in pediatric subjects were comparable to those observed in adults [see Adverse Reactions]. Refer to Dosage & Administration for twice‑daily dosing recommendations for pediatric subjects 6 to less than 18 years of age and weighing at least 40 kg.
In clinical trial TMC114-C230, the safety, pharmacokinetic profile and virologic and immunologic responses of PREZISTA/ritonavir administered once daily were evaluated in treatment-naïve HIV-1 infected pediatric subjects 12 to less than 18 years of age (12 subjects) [see Adverse Reactions, Pharmacology: Pharmacokinetics under Actions, and Pharmacology: Pharmacodynamics: Clinical Studies under Actions]. Frequency, type, and severity of adverse drug reactions in pediatric subjects were comparable to those observed in adults [see Adverse Reactions]. Once daily dosing recommendations for pediatric patients 3 to less than 12 years of age were derived using population pharmacokinetic modeling and simulation. Although a PREZISTA/ritonavir once daily dosing pediatric trial was not conducted in children less than 12 years of age, there is sufficient clinical safety data to support the predicted PREZISTA exposures for the dosing recommendations in this age group [see Pharmacology: Pharmacokinetics under Actions]. Please see Dosage & Administration for once-daily dosing recommendations for pediatric subjects 6 to less than 18 years of age and weighing at least 40 kg.
Juvenile Animal Data: In a juvenile toxicity study where rats were directly dosed with darunavir (up to 1000 mg/kg), deaths occurred from post-natal day 5 at plasma exposure levels ranging from 0.1 to 1.0 of the human exposure levels. In a 4-week rat toxicology study, when dosing was initiated on post-natal day 23 (the human equivalent of 2 to 3 years of age), no deaths were observed with a plasma exposure (in combination with ritonavir) 2 times the human plasma exposure levels.
Use in the Elderly: Clinical studies of PREZISTA did not include sufficient numbers of patients aged 65 years and over to determine whether they respond differently from younger patients. In general, caution should be exercised in the administration and monitoring of PREZISTA in elderly patients, reflecting the greater frequency of decreased hepatic function, and of concomitant disease or other drug therapy [see Pharmacology: Pharmacokinetics under Actions].
