HARVONI review: harvoni uses, harvoni dosage, harvoni side effects, harvoni tablets.
What is harvoni used for? .
Harvoni is an antiviral medicine used to treat adults and children from 3 years of age with chronic (long-term) hepatitis C, an infectious disease of the liver caused by the hepatitis C virus.
Harvoni contains the active substances ledipasvir and sofosbuvir.
How is Harvoni used? .
Harvoni can only be obtained with a prescription and treatment should be started and monitored by a doctor experienced in the management of patients with chronic hepatitis C.
Harvoni is available as tablets and as granules in sachets. The granules are suitable for children and patients who cannot take tablets and they can be sprinkled on soft food, swallowed with water or swallowed dry without chewing.
For adults the recommended dose of Harvoni is one tablet containing 90 mg ledipasvir and 400 mg sofosbuvir once a day. For children and young people aged up to 18 years the daily dose is based on their weight. There are several varieties (called genotypes) of hepatitis C virus and Harvoni is recommended for use in patients with virus of genotypes 1, 4, 5 and 6 and for some patients with genotype 3. The duration of treatment with Harvoni and whether it is used alone or in combination with another medicine called ribavirin depends on the genotype of the virus and the nature of the liver problems patients have, for example if they have liver cirrhosis (scarring) or their liver is not working properly.
For more information about using Harvoni, see the package leaflet or contact your doctor or pharmacist.
How does Harvoni work? .
The active substances in Harvoni, ledipasvir and sofosbuvir, block two proteins essential for the hepatitis C virus to multiply. Sofosbuvir blocks the action of a protein called NS5B RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, while ledipasvir targets a protein called NS5A. By blocking these proteins, Harvoni stops the hepatitis C virus from multiplying and infecting new cells.
Sofosbuvir has been authorised as Sovaldi since January 2014.
What are side effects associated with Harvoni? .
The most common side effects with Harvoni (which may affect more than 1 in 10 people) are tiredness and headache. Harvoni must not be used together with the cholesterol medicine rosuvastatin. It must also not be used together with the following medicines which can reduce the effects of Harvoni:
rifampicin and rifabutin (antibiotics).
carbamazepine, phenobarbital and phenytoin (medicines for epilepsy).
St John’s wort (a herbal preparation used to treat depression and anxiety).
For the full list of all side effects and restrictions of Harvoni, see the package leaflet.
2 сен 2023
