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A University of Rhode Island pharmacy professor and a graduate student have discovered potential complications in [sofosbuvir-containing regimens]. The Hepatitis C drug sofosbuvir can adversely interact with HIV drug tenofovir disoproxil [Viread], reports Bingfang Yan, professor of biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences in the College of Pharmacy/Academic Health Collaborative.
Tenofovir disoproxil is listed as an essential medicine by the World Health Organization. These Hepatitis C and HIV drugs are manufactured and sold by Gilead Sciences Inc. as Sovaldi and Viread, respectively.
He and graduate student Yuanjun Shen report their findings in the Journal of Hepatology in a letter to the editor titled “Covalent Inhibition of Carboxylesterase-2 (CES-2) by Sofosbuvir and its Effect on the Hydrolytic Activation of Tenofovir Disoproxil.”
This new study by Yan and Shen shows that sofosbuvir inhibits the hydrolysis (decomposition in water) of tenofovir disoproxil, affecting the drug-activating CES-2 enzyme irreversibly. “This decreases the therapeutic activation of tenofovir disoproxil with implications of increased kidney toxicity,” Yan said.