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Nonlinear mixed-effects modelling of drug-drug interactions between antiretroviral therapy and tuberculosis treatment

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) remains a significant global health challenge that affected approximately 39 million individuals in 2022, with majority residing in Africa. Among people with HIV (PWH), co-infection with tuberculosis (TB) is a leading cause of death. However, the concurrent treatme...

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Main Author: Kengo, Allan
Other Authors: Denti, Paolo
Format: Thesis
Language:English
English
Published: Department of Medicine 2025
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access_status_str Open Access
author Kengo, Allan
author2 Denti, Paolo
author_browse Denti, Paolo
Kengo, Allan
author_facet Denti, Paolo
Kengo, Allan
author_sort Kengo, Allan
collection Thesis
description Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) remains a significant global health challenge that affected approximately 39 million individuals in 2022, with majority residing in Africa. Among people with HIV (PWH), co-infection with tuberculosis (TB) is a leading cause of death. However, the concurrent treatment of HIV and TB often results in drug-drug interactions (DDIs), mediated especially by rifampicin, a key component of the TB regimen and potent enzyme and transporter inducer. These DDIs may compromise treatment safety and efficacy, potentially leading to therapeutic failure and increased risk of drug resistance. In this thesis, we utilized non-linear mixed effects modelling and data from studies in PWH and healthy volunteers to characterize DDIs between first- and second-line antiretroviral (ARV) and anti-TB drugs. Additionally, we performed simulations to assess treatment target attainment following current dosing recommendations in PWH. Our pharmacokinetic model of standard- and high-dose rifampicin in PWH identified lower bioavailability of the top-up capsule formulation as the cause of lower-than-expected drug exposures in participants on high-dose rifampicin. Furthermore, the reduced dolutegravir exposures in participants on concurrent high-dose rifampicin, compared to those on the standard-dose, were attributed to reduced bioavailability rather than enhanced clearance. Notably, our simulations demonstrated that doubling the dosing frequency of dolutegravir effectively counteracted the DDI with both standard- and high-dose rifampicin. Secondly, we characterized the DDI between ritonavir-boosted atazanavir (ATV/r) and rifampicin, both in plasma and within peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Rifampicin increased the clearance of ATV/r by threefold, and doubling the dosing frequency of ATV/r was sufficient to counteract this interaction and restore treatment target attainment. Notably, rifampicin did not affect atazanavir equilibration or accumulation in PBMCs, suggesting that plasma studies can reliably reflect intracellular processes. We also applied our model to an external dataset, estimating a twofold decrease in atazanavir clearance, likely due to ritonavir co-administration. Lastly, we found clofazimine, a second-line drug resistant TB (DR-TB) drug, to increase the clearance of levofloxacin by 15% but not affect the pharmacokinetics of cycloserine, linezolid, or isoniazid. This confirmed that clofazimine can be safely co-administered with other DR-TB drugs, as it poses minimal risk of significant DDIs. In conclusion, non-linear mixed effects modelling can be used to evaluate DDIs, and we recommend its incorporation in routine dose optimization and therapeutic drug monitoring programs to enhance treatment outcomes.
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language English
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provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
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spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/42352 Nonlinear mixed-effects modelling of drug-drug interactions between antiretroviral therapy and tuberculosis treatment Kengo, Allan Denti, Paolo Resendiz Galvan, Juan Eduardo Drug Therapy HIV TB Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) remains a significant global health challenge that affected approximately 39 million individuals in 2022, with majority residing in Africa. Among people with HIV (PWH), co-infection with tuberculosis (TB) is a leading cause of death. However, the concurrent treatment of HIV and TB often results in drug-drug interactions (DDIs), mediated especially by rifampicin, a key component of the TB regimen and potent enzyme and transporter inducer. These DDIs may compromise treatment safety and efficacy, potentially leading to therapeutic failure and increased risk of drug resistance. In this thesis, we utilized non-linear mixed effects modelling and data from studies in PWH and healthy volunteers to characterize DDIs between first- and second-line antiretroviral (ARV) and anti-TB drugs. Additionally, we performed simulations to assess treatment target attainment following current dosing recommendations in PWH. Our pharmacokinetic model of standard- and high-dose rifampicin in PWH identified lower bioavailability of the top-up capsule formulation as the cause of lower-than-expected drug exposures in participants on high-dose rifampicin. Furthermore, the reduced dolutegravir exposures in participants on concurrent high-dose rifampicin, compared to those on the standard-dose, were attributed to reduced bioavailability rather than enhanced clearance. Notably, our simulations demonstrated that doubling the dosing frequency of dolutegravir effectively counteracted the DDI with both standard- and high-dose rifampicin. Secondly, we characterized the DDI between ritonavir-boosted atazanavir (ATV/r) and rifampicin, both in plasma and within peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Rifampicin increased the clearance of ATV/r by threefold, and doubling the dosing frequency of ATV/r was sufficient to counteract this interaction and restore treatment target attainment. Notably, rifampicin did not affect atazanavir equilibration or accumulation in PBMCs, suggesting that plasma studies can reliably reflect intracellular processes. We also applied our model to an external dataset, estimating a twofold decrease in atazanavir clearance, likely due to ritonavir co-administration. Lastly, we found clofazimine, a second-line drug resistant TB (DR-TB) drug, to increase the clearance of levofloxacin by 15% but not affect the pharmacokinetics of cycloserine, linezolid, or isoniazid. This confirmed that clofazimine can be safely co-administered with other DR-TB drugs, as it poses minimal risk of significant DDIs. In conclusion, non-linear mixed effects modelling can be used to evaluate DDIs, and we recommend its incorporation in routine dose optimization and therapeutic drug monitoring programs to enhance treatment outcomes. 2025-11-26T12:05:04Z 2025-11-26T12:05:04Z 2025 2025-11-26T12:02:13Z Thesis / Dissertation Doctoral PhD http://hdl.handle.net/11427/42352 en eng application/pdf Department of Medicine Faculty of Health Sciences University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Drug
Therapy
HIV
TB
Kengo, Allan
Nonlinear mixed-effects modelling of drug-drug interactions between antiretroviral therapy and tuberculosis treatment
thesis_degree_str Doctoral
title Nonlinear mixed-effects modelling of drug-drug interactions between antiretroviral therapy and tuberculosis treatment
title_full Nonlinear mixed-effects modelling of drug-drug interactions between antiretroviral therapy and tuberculosis treatment
title_fullStr Nonlinear mixed-effects modelling of drug-drug interactions between antiretroviral therapy and tuberculosis treatment
title_full_unstemmed Nonlinear mixed-effects modelling of drug-drug interactions between antiretroviral therapy and tuberculosis treatment
title_short Nonlinear mixed-effects modelling of drug-drug interactions between antiretroviral therapy and tuberculosis treatment
title_sort nonlinear mixed effects modelling of drug drug interactions between antiretroviral therapy and tuberculosis treatment
topic Drug
Therapy
HIV
TB
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/42352
work_keys_str_mv AT kengoallan nonlinearmixedeffectsmodellingofdrugdruginteractionsbetweenantiretroviraltherapyandtuberculosistreatment