Abacavir

Jan 9, 2007

Dear Dr. Henry, First of all I thank you very much for your time. My brother in Africa is taking Abacavir, truvada and kaletra which he started 2 months ago. His CD4 at the time was 855 and viral load 11000. Now the problem is, he only has a 4 day supply of the Abacavir which he gets from a local shop and all of a sudden they said they don't have it anymore. We are very worried, the government hospital is saying they expect to get the med in a month or so. My question is, is it okay for my brother to take only the two med which is Kaletra and Truvada till he get the Abacavir? I am very worried for him. Please advice.Thanks and a lot and may God bless you in everything you do.

Tutu

Response from Dr. Henry

Truvada contains two HIV medications (tenofovir + FTC) and Kaletra has a high barrier to resistance so in many cases he should be OK for a while off abacavir given the circumstances. There isn't alot of data about what abacavir would add to that particular regimen. The good news to me is that I am thrilled to hear that he is getting Truvada + Kaletra in Africa since I think that is an excellent treatment for many patients and I wish that it were widely used/available in Africa. KH