Darunavir (DRV), a protease inhibitor (PI) class which works by blocking HIV protease, is an antiretroviral medication basically sold under the brand name Prezista, This antiretroviral is used to treat and also prevent patients with HIV/AIDS. DRV is recommended that it should be combined with other antiretrovirals for more effective outcomes.
One of the well known combinations of Darunavir is with low doses of ritonavir 50mg or cobicistat for enhancing the effect as well as level of darunavir.
Darunavir is well tolerated and as effective as lopinavir/ritonavir.
The various concentrations of this medication are as follows:
- Darunavir 75 mg tablets
- Darunavir 150 mg tablets
- Darunavir 400 mg tablets
- Darunavir 600 mg tablets
- Darunavir 800 mg tablets
In adult patients the recommended dose is Darunavir 800 mg (two 400 mg tablets) taken with ritonavir 100 mg.
The combination of Darunavir and Ritonavir is a safe, effective and well tolerated treatment option.
Darunavir Ritonavir when combined together, Ritonavir helps in increasing the effect of darunavir.
Nowadays, during an ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) which is mainly caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) there are several antiretroviral Or HIV medication which are being recommended to use against this outbreak.
In this way Darunavir, is an antiretroviral also recommended to use for COVID-19. There some studies have been conducted in order to prove the efficacy of Darunavir.
According to Johnson and Johnson (J&J), there is lack of evidence found for darunavir in order to it's antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes Covid-19.
Officials stated that, currently, HIV protease inhibitors are being considered as potential treatments for the new viral infection. The reason behind the lack of evidence is due to the very small quantity of clinical trials Or observations have performed on SARS coronavirus patients.
Darunavir is a PIs (protease inhibitor) which was approved as a boosting agent for use in combination with other antiretrovirals in order to treat HIV-1.
Apart from this Johnson & Johnson is screening the darunavir including some other antiviral compounds in order to specify medication's potential in vitro effect against SARS-CoV-2.
Till date, there are several clinical trials Or in-vitro studies are ongoing for detecting the safety as well as efficacy of: darunavir/ritonavir Or darunavir / cobicistat / emtricitabine / tenofovir alafenamide for the treatment of patients with coronavirus.
In China, three clinical Darunavir based studies have been conducted.
According to another study which was conducted at China's Zhejiang University.
A team of the university stated that there are two drugs named Abidol and Darunavir, which may be able to help for the treatment of patients who are infected with the new coronavirus.
Outcomes based on the preliminary in-vitro testing specified the medications are effective in order to block the virus.
A researcher from the team of China's Zhejiang University, named Chen Zuobing noted that Darunavir and Abidol were used in the treatment of patients who were infected by the COVID-19 virus in Zhejiang Province.
