WARNING:
The benefit of using delavirdine may be limited. Delavirdine should always be used with another anti-HIV medicine to avoid resistance to HIV.
Delavirdine can cause serious, life-threatening side effects. This includes severe rash.
If you have any of the following symptoms along with a skin rash, stop taking delavirdine and contact your health care provider right away:
- Fever.
- Blistering.
- Sores in your mouth.
- Redness or swelling of your eyes.
- Muscle or joint pain.
Taking certain medicines with delavirdine may cause serious, life-threatening side effects.
While taking delavirdine, it is important to keep all of your appointments with your health care provider.
What is delavirdine?
Delavirdine is a prescription medicine approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of HIV infection in adults. Delavirdine is always used in combination with other anti-HIV medicines.
Delavirdine is a type of anti-HIV medicine called a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI). NNRTIs work by binding to and blocking HIV reverse transcriptase, an HIV enzyme. This prevents HIV from replicating and lowers the amount of HIV in the blood.
Delavirdine does not cure HIV/AIDS. Whether delavirdine reduces the risk of HIV transmission is unknown.
What should I tell my health care provider before taking delavirdine?
Before taking delavirdine, tell your health care provider:
- If you are allergic to delavirdine or any other medicines.
- About any medical problems (including past medical problems), especially if you have or have ever had liver disease or kidney disease.
- If you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. Whether delavirdine can harm an unborn baby is unknown.
- If you are breastfeeding. Do not breastfeed if you are infected with HIV or are taking delavirdine.
- About other prescription and nonprescription medicines, vitamins, nutritional supplements, and herbal products you are taking or plan to take. Delavirdine may affect the way other medicines or products work, and other medicines or products may affect how delavirdine works. Taking delavirdine together with certain medicines or products may cause serious and/or life-threatening side effects.
How should I take delavirdine?
Delavirdine comes in tablet form in two strengths:
- 100-mg tablets (brand name: Rescriptor).
- 200-mg tablets (brand name: Rescriptor).
Take delavirdine according to your health care provider’s instructions.
Delavirdine may be taken with or without food, but it may be best to take it the same way each day. If you are taking both delavirdine and antacids, take them at least 1 hour apart. If your health care provider has told you that you don’t have enough stomach acid, take delavirdine with orange or cranberry juice.
If you have trouble swallowing tablets, the 100-mg delavirdine tablets may be dissolved in water. Add four tablets to at least 3 ounces of water. Allow the tablets to sit in the water for a few minutes. Stir the water until the tablets have dissolved and then drink the delavirdine-water mixture right away. Rinse the glass and swallow the rinse to make sure that you get all the medicine. Delavirdine 200-mg tablets cannot be dissolved in water and must be swallowed whole.
Always take delavirdine in combination with other anti-HIV medicines.
If you take too much delavirdine, contact your local poison control center (1-800-222-1222) or go to the nearest hospital emergency room right away.
For more information on how to take delavirdine, see the FDA drug label from DailyMed. (DailyMed is a federal website that includes the most recent drug labels submitted to FDA.) Toward the end of the label is patient information for people taking delavirdine.
What should I do if I forget a dose?
Take the missed dose as soon as you remember it. But if it is almost time for your next dose, skip the missed dose and just take your next dose at the regular time. Do not take two doses at the same time to make up for a missed dose.
What side effects can delavirdine cause?
Delavirdine can cause serious, life-threatening side effects. This includes severe rash. (See the WARNING above.)
Other possible side effects of delavirdine include:
- Changes in body fat (lipodystrophy).
- Changes in the immune system (immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome).
Tell your health care provider if you have any side effect that bothers you or that does not go away.
These are not all the possible side effects of delavirdine. Ask your health care provider or pharmacist for more information on possible side effects of delavirdine.
How should delavirdine be stored?
- Store delavirdine at room temperature, 68°F to 77°F (20°C to 25°C).
- Keep the bottle closed and away from excess heat and moisture (not in the bathroom).
- Safely throw away delavirdine that is no longer needed or expired (out of date).
- Keep delavirdine and all medicines out of reach of children.
Where can I find more information about delavirdine?
More information about delavirdine is available:
Manufacturer Information
Pfizer Inc
212-733-2323
Last Reviewed: September 13, 2012
Last Updated: September 12, 2012