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Emtricitabine (FTC / Emtriva)

Antiretroviralprescriptionoral · inferred

Cytidine analog NRTI used in virtually all modern HIV combination regimens and as a component of PrEP (Truvada, Descovy). Also active against hepatitis B. Well-tolerated with plasma half-life ~10h and intracellular FTC-TP half-life ~39h, supporting once-daily dosing. Oral bioavailability ~93%. Primarily renally cleared; dose-adjust in renal impairment.

Projected serum levels — 200 mg, once daily

Emtricitabine (FTC / Emtriva)
Emtricitabine (FTC / Emtriva) modeled serum levels, 200 mg once daily over 15 days Population-based pharmacokinetic estimate. Steady state reached after approximately 1 days. 0 50 100 150 200 Day 0 Day 4 Day 8 Day 11 Day 15 Time on a regular schedule ≈ steady state · day 1

Maintenance schedule: 200 mg once daily (oral).

Modeled steady state after ~1 days: peak ≈ 181 mg, trough ≈ 20.7 mg body load. Population-based estimate over 15 days for a 200 mg dose at a 70 kg reference body mass — the interactive app scales curves to your doses, timing, and body mass.

Key facts

Category
Antiretroviral
Route modeled
Oral
Model confidence
inferred
Half-life
10 h
Common dose
200 mg
Suggested maximum
200 mg/day
Reference dose range
100–200 mg (single dose)
Suggested cadence
once daily
Validated against
200 mg oral — Cmax 1.8 mg/L at 1.5 h

Documented interactions

  • moderate
    Dolutegravir (DTG / Tivicay) + Emtricitabine (FTC / Emtriva) Transporter inhibition

    Dolutegravir (DTG / Tivicay) inhibitor of OCT2 may alter Emtricitabine (FTC / Emtriva) absorption / distribution

  • moderate
    Trimethoprim/Sulfamethoxazole (Bactrim) + Emtricitabine (FTC / Emtriva) Transporter inhibition

    Trimethoprim/Sulfamethoxazole (Bactrim) inhibitor of OCT2 may alter Emtricitabine (FTC / Emtriva) absorption / distribution

  • watch
    Biktarvy (BIC/FTC/TAF) + Emtricitabine (FTC / Emtriva) Stacked effects

    Biktarvy (BIC/FTC/TAF) and Emtricitabine (FTC / Emtriva) both push the hiv reverse transcriptase nrti in the same direction.

  • watch
    Descovy (TAF/FTC) + Emtricitabine (FTC / Emtriva) Stacked effects

    Descovy (TAF/FTC) and Emtricitabine (FTC / Emtriva) both push the hiv reverse transcriptase nrti in the same direction.

  • watch
    Lamivudine (3TC, Epivir) + Emtricitabine (FTC / Emtriva) Stacked effects

    Emtricitabine (FTC / Emtriva) and Lamivudine (3TC, Epivir) both push the hiv reverse transcriptase nrti in the same direction.

Serum checks 8 modeled interaction pairings for emtricitabine (ftc / emtriva) across your whole stack — absorption conflicts, enzyme inhibition, and nutrient depletion included.

Research behind this entry

  1. Clinical pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of emtricitabine in HIV-1-infected adults Wang LH et al. · Clinical Pharmacokinetics, 2004 DOI

    PK review establishing emtricitabine's 93% oral bioavailability, 10-hour plasma half-life, 39-hour intracellular triphosphate half-life, and renal elimination profile.

  2. On-demand preexposure prophylaxis in men at high risk for HIV-1 infection Molina JM et al. · New England Journal of Medicine, 2015 DOI

    IPERGAY trial demonstrating 86% reduction in HIV incidence with on-demand TDF/FTC PrEP, establishing event-driven dosing as a viable strategy.

2 published studies referenced in the app, each with a plain-language summary.