tipranavir, 250 mg capsule (Aptivus)

Following a re-submission.

Tipranavir (Aptivus) in combination with low dose ritonavir is accepted for restricted use within NHS Scotland for the treatment of HIV-1 infection in highly pre-treated adult patients with virus resistant to multiple protease inhibitors.

At 48 weeks, tipranavir, in combination with low dose ritonavir, showed a significant improvement in the reduction of viral load compared with other protease inhibitor plus ritonavir regimens. Although the overall rate and type of adverse events were similar, tipranavir had a higher incidence of hepatotoxicity, hyperlipidaemia, bleeding events and rash.

Tipranavir is more expensive than other protease inhibitors and it is restricted to patients with a tipranavir mutation score of less than 4.