Free software to analyse the clinical relevance of drug interactions with antiretroviral agents (SIMARV ® ) in patients with HIV/AIDS.

BACKGROUND: Highly active antiretroviral therapy has extended the expected lifespan of patients with HIV/AIDS. However, the therapeutic benefits of some drugs used simultaneously with highly active antiretroviral therapy may be adversely affected by drug interactions.

OBJECTIVE: The goal was to design and develop a free software to facilitate analysis, assessment, and clinical decision making according to the clinical relevance of drug interactions in patients with HIV/AIDS.

METHODS: A comprehensive Medline/PubMed database search of drug interactions was performed. Articles that recognized any drug interactions in HIV disease were selected. The publications accessed were limited to human studies in English or Spanish, with full texts retrieved. Drug interactions were analyzed, assessed, and grouped into four levels of clinical relevance according to gravity and probability. Software to systematize the information regarding drug interactions and their clinical relevance was designed and developed.

RESULTS: Overall, 952 different references were retrieved and 446 selected; in addition, 67 articles were selected from the citation lists of identified articles. A total of 2119 pairs of drug interactions were identified; of this group, 2006 (94.7%) were drug-drug interactions, 1982 (93.5%) had an identified pharmacokinetic mechanism, and 1409 (66.5%) were mediated by enzyme inhibition. In terms of clinical relevance, 1285 (60.6%) drug interactions were clinically significant in patients with HIV (levels 1 and 2). With this information, a software program that facilitates identification and assessment of the clinical relevance of antiretroviral drug interactions (SIMARV® ) was developed.

CONCLUSIONS: A free software package with information on 2119 pairs of antiretroviral drug interactions was designed and developed that could facilitate analysis, assessment, and clinical decision making according to the clinical relevance of drug interactions in patients with HIV/AIDS.