Warnings

Lactic Acidosis/Severe Hepatomegaly with Steatosis

Lactic acidosis and severe hepatomegaly with steatosis, including fatal cases, have been reported with the use of nucleoside analogs alone or in combination with other antiretrovirals. A majority of these cases have been in women. Obesity and prolonged nucleoside exposure may be risk factors. Particular caution should be exercised when administering nucleoside analogs to any patient with known risk factors for liver disease; however, cases have also been reported in patients with no known risk factors.
Treatment with ATRIPLA should be suspended in any patient who develops clinical or laboratory findings suggestive of lactic acidosis or pronounced hepatotoxicity (which may include hepatomegaly and steatosis even in the absence of marked transaminase elevations).

Patients with HIV and HBV Coinfection

It is recommended that all patients with HIV be tested for the presence of HBV before initiating antiretroviral therapy. ATRIPLA is not indicated for the treatment of chronic HBV infection and the safety and efficacy of ATRIPLA have not been established in patients co-infected with HBV and HIV. Severe acute exacerbations of hepatitis B have been reported in patients after the discontinuation of EMTRIVA and VIREAD. Hepatic function should be closely monitored with both clinical and laboratory follow up for at least several months in patients who discontinue ATRIPLA and are coinfected with HIV and HBV. If appropriate, initiation of anti-hepatitis B therapy may be warranted.
ALERT: Find out about medicines that should NOT be taken with ATRIPLA. This statement is also included on the product's bottle labels (see CONTRAINDICATIONS and PRECAUTIONS, Drug Interactions).

Coadministration with Related Drugs

Related drugs not for coadministration with ATRIPLA include EMTRIVA (emtricitabine), VIREAD (tenofovir DF), TRUVADA (emtricitabine/tenofovir DF), and SUSTIVA (efavirenz), which contain the same active components as ATRIPLA. Due to similarities between emtricitabine and lamivudine, ATRIPLA should not be coadministered with drugs containing lamivudine, including Combivir, Epivir, Epivir-HBV, Epzicom, or Trizivir.

Drug Interactions (see CONTRAINDICATIONS, CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY, Drug Interactions, and PRECAUTIONS, Drug Interactions)

Concomitant use of ATRIPLA and St. John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum) or St. John’s wort-containing products is not recommended. Coadministration of NNRTIs, including efavirenz, with St. John’s wort is expected to substantially decrease NNRTI concentrations and may result in suboptimal levels of efavirenz and lead to loss of virologic response and possible resistance to efavirenz or to the class of NNRTIs.

Psychiatric Symptoms

Serious psychiatric adverse experiences have been reported in patients treated with efavirenz. In controlled trials of 1008 patients treated with regimens containing efavirenz for a mean of 2.1 years and 635 patients treated with control regimens for a mean of 1.5 years, the frequency of specific serious psychiatric events among patients who received efavirenz or control regimens, respectively, were: severe depression (2.4%, 0.9%), suicidal ideation (0.7%, 0.3%), nonfatal suicide attempts (0.5%, 0%), aggressive behavior (0.4%, 0.5%), paranoid reactions (0.4%, 0.3%), and manic reactions (0.2%, 0.3%). When psychiatric symptoms similar to those noted above were combined and evaluated as a group in a multifactorial analysis of data from Study AI266006 (006), treatment with efavirenz was associated with an increase in the occurrence of these selected psychiatric symptoms. Other factors associated with an increase in the occurrence of these psychiatric symptoms were history of injection drug use, psychiatric history, and receipt of psychiatric medication at study entry; similar associations were observed in both the efavirenz and control treatment groups. In Study 006, onset of new serious psychiatric symptoms occurred throughout the study for both efavirenz-treated and control-treated patients. One percent of efavirenz-treated patients discontinued or interrupted treatment because of one or more of these selected psychiatric symptoms. There have also been occasional postmarketing reports of death by suicide, delusions, and psychosis-like behavior, although a causal relationship to the use of efavirenz cannot be determined from these reports. Patients with serious psychiatric adverse experiences should seek immediate medical evaluation to assess the possibility that the symptoms may be related to the use of efavirenz, and if so, to determine whether the risks of continued therapy outweigh the benefits (see ADVERSE REACTIONS).

Nervous System Symptoms

Fifty-three percent of patients receiving efavirenz in controlled trials reported central nervous system symptoms compared to 25% of patients receiving control regimens. These symptoms included dizziness (28.1%), insomnia (16.3%), impaired concentration (8.3%), somnolence (7.0%), abnormal dreams (6.2%), and hallucinations (1.2%). Other Page 21 of 49 reported symptoms were euphoria, confusion, agitation, amnesia, stupor, abnormal thinking, and depersonalization. The majority of these symptoms were mild-moderate (50.7%); symptoms were severe in 2.0% of patients. Overall, 2.1% of patients discontinued therapy as a result. These symptoms usually begin during the first or second day of therapy and generally resolve after the first 2–4 weeks of therapy. After 4 weeks of therapy, the prevalence of nervous system symptoms of at least moderate severity ranged from 5% to 9% in patients treated with regimens containing efavirenz and from 3% to 5% in patients treated with a control regimen. Patients should be informed that these common symptoms were likely to improve with continued therapy and were not predictive of subsequent onset of the less frequent psychiatric symptoms (see WARNINGS, Psychiatric Symptoms). Dosing at bedtime may improve the tolerability of these nervous system symptoms (see ADVERSE REACTIONS and DOSAGE AND ADMINISTRATION).

Analysis of long-term data from Study 006, (median follow-up 180 weeks, 102 weeks, and 76 weeks for patients treated with efavirenz + zidovudine + lamivudine, efavirenz + indinavir, and indinavir + zidovudine + lamivudine, respectively) showed that, beyond 24 weeks of therapy, the incidences of new-onset nervous system symptoms among efavirenz-treated patients were generally similar to those in the indinavir-containing control arm.

Patients receiving ATRIPLA should be alerted to the potential for additive central nervous system effects when ATRIPLA is used concomitantly with alcohol or psychoactive drugs.

Patients who experience central nervous system symptoms such as dizziness, impaired concentration, and/or drowsiness should avoid potentially hazardous tasks such as driving or operating machinery.

Renal Impairment

Emtricitabine and tenofovir are principally eliminated by the kidney, however efavirenz is not. Since ATRIPLA is a combination product and the dose of the individual components cannot be altered, patients with creatinine clearance <50 mL/min should not receive ATRIPLA.

Renal impairment, including cases of acute renal failure and Fanconi syndrome (renal tubular injury with severe hypophosphatemia), has been reported in association with the use of tenofovir DF (see ADVERSE REACTIONS, Post Marketing Experience). The majority of these cases occurred in patients with underlying systemic or renal disease, or in patients taking nephrotoxic agents; however, some cases occurred in patients without identified risk factors.

ATRIPLA should be avoided with concurrent or recent use of a nephrotoxic agent. Patients at risk for, or with a history of, renal dysfunction and patients receiving concomitant nephrotoxic agents should be carefully monitored for changes in serum creatinine and phosphorus.

Reproductive Risk Potential

Pregnancy Category D: Efavirenz may cause fetal harm when administered during the first trimester to a pregnant woman. Pregnancy should be avoided in women receiving ATRIPLA. Barrier contraception should always be used in combination with other methods of contraception (eg, oral or other hormonal contraceptives). Women of childbearing potential should undergo pregnancy testing before initiation of ATRIPLA. If this drug is used during the first trimester of pregnancy, or if the patient becomes pregnant while taking this drug, the patient should be apprised of the potential harm to the fetus.

There are no adequate and well-controlled studies of ATRIPLA in pregnant women. ATRIPLA should be used during pregnancy only if the potential benefit justifies the potential risk to the fetus, such as in pregnant women without other therapeutic options.

Antiretroviral Pregnancy Registry: To monitor fetal outcomes of pregnant women, an Antiretroviral Pregnancy Registry has been established. Physicians are encouraged to register patients who become pregnant by calling (800) 258-4263.

Efavirenz: As of July 2006, the Antiretroviral Pregnancy Registry has received prospective reports of 322 pregnancies exposed to efavirenz-containing regimens, nearly all of which were first-trimester exposures (316 pregnancies). Birth defects occurred in 6 of 255 live births (first-trimester exposure) and 1 of 17 live births (second/third-trimester exposure). None of these prospectively reported defects were neural tube defects. However, there have been four retrospective reports of findings consistent with neural tube defects, including meningomyelocele. All mothers were exposed to efavirenz-containing regimens in the first trimester. Although a causal relationship of these events to the use of efavirenz has not been established, similar defects have been observed in preclinical studies of efavirenz.

Animal toxicology: Malformations have been observed in 3 of 20 fetuses/infants from efavirenz-treated cynomolgus monkeys (versus 0 of 20 concomitant controls) in a developmental toxicity study. The pregnant monkeys were dosed throughout pregnancy (postcoital days 20–150) with efavirenz 60 mg/kg daily, a dose which resulted in plasma drug concentrations similar to those in humans given 600 mg/day of efavirenz. Anencephaly and unilateral anophthalmia were observed in one fetus, microophthalmia was observed in another fetus, and cleft palate was observed in a third fetus. Efavirenz crosses the placenta in cynomolgus monkeys and produces fetal blood concentrations similar to maternal blood concentrations. Efavirenz has been shown to cross the placenta in rats and rabbits and produces fetal blood concentrations of efavirenz similar to maternal concentrations. An increase in fetal resorptions was observed in rats at efavirenz doses that produced peak plasma concentrations and AUC values in female rats equivalent to or lower than those achieved in humans given 600 mg once daily of efavirenz. Efavirenz produced no reproductive toxicities when given to pregnant rabbits at doses that produced peak plasma concentrations similar to and AUC values approximately half of those achieved in humans given 600 mg once daily of efavirenz.