Nevirapine belongs to a group of medicines called antiretrovirals, used in the treatment of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV-1) infection.
Nevirapine is recommended for use in adults and in children who are 6 years of age and infected with HIV-1 as part of combination antiretroviral treatment (ART or cART). Nevirapine as a monotherapy is not indicated because of the rapid emergence of resistance.
Nevirapine as a triple combination therapy has been shown to suppress viral load effectively when used as initial antiretroviral therapy (i.e., in antiretroviral-naive patients). Some clinical trials have demonstrated comparable HIV suppression with nevirapine-based regimens to that achieved with regimens based on a protease inhibitor or efavirenz.
This HIV drug is generally only to be taken in order to use if the CD4 cell count is very low.
Although concerns have been raised about nevirapine-based regimens in those starting therapy with high viral load or low CD4 count, some analyses suggest that nevirapine may be effective in this group of people.
After the virological failure, this NNRTI can be also an effective component of salvage regimens. It is often used in combination with one or more Protease Inhibitors as well as nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs), especially in those patients who have previously not received an NNRTI.
Dosing in children is based on body surface area (BSA), however, weight-based dosing algorithms have been released.
Indicated for the prevention in mother-to-child transmission: Behalf of a clinical trial in Uganda, the single dose of nevirapine 200 mg given to both mother and child reduced the rate of HIV transmission by approximately 50% compared with a tiny time period course of zidovudine (AZT) prophylaxis. Apart from this a subsequent study in Thailand specified that the prophylaxis with single-dose nevirapine in addition to zidovudine is more effective than alone use of zidovudine. Some other trials including these, have led the WHO World to endorse the use of single-dose nevirapine prophylaxis in many developing world settings as a cost-effective way of reducing mother-to-child transmission.
Side Effects: This non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) works by blocking the function of reverse transcriptase and sometimes may leave some common side effects such as rash, headache, nausea, feeling tired, and liver problems. The skin rash and liver problems could be severe and should be checked for during the first few months of the treatment.
Read:- side effects of Nevirapine