The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the third version of an HIV drug from the same manufacturer based on a new form of the antiretroviral tenofovir that is gentler than its predecessor and absorbed more efficiently. The drug combines 25 mg tenofovir alafenamide (TAF) and 200 mg emtricitabine , both of which are nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors . The drug is indicated in combination with other antiretrovirals for treating HIV-1 infection in adults and pediatric patients 12 years of age and older . The FDA has not approved it as a form of preexposure prophylaxis.
TAF is a so-called prodrug of tenofovir, meaning the body must metabolize it to produce tenofovir. TAF suppresses HIV just as well as its predecessor compound tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, or TDF by the same manufacturer but at one tenth the dose . The unique combination of emtricitabine and…
