Tenofovir and Emtricitabine Should be Excluded From the Therapy During Pregnancy

Pregnant women should be informed by the treating doctors that medicines like tenofovir and emtricitabine could be excluded from the therapy because they can lead to stillbirth and early infant death, said the new recommendations, published this week in the British Medical Journal (BMJ).

As the aidsmap report about the findings published in the new guidance,  to avoid early infant death or stillbirth, antiretroviral treatment during pregnancy should be based on zidovudine and lamivudine, not tenofovir and emtricitabine, especially when combined with lopinavir/ritonavir. Women should be informed of all the potential benefits and harms of treatment options and should share in the decision-making about which drugs they should take during pregnancy, say the authors.The recommendations recognise that guidelines that take a public health approach, such as those of the World Health Organization, will place greater emphasis on efficient use of resources, and will seek to minimise the number of different drug options used in a health system so as to simplify the delivery of treatment.