Telaprevir (Oral)
Medically reviewed by Drugs.com. Last updated on Jun 6, 2022.
Serious Skin ReactionsFatal and non-fatal serious skin reactions, including Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS), drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS), and toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN), have been reported in patients treated with telaprevir combination treatment. Fatal cases have been reported in patients with progressive rash and systemic symptoms who continued to receive telaprevir combination treatment after a serious skin reaction was identified. For serious skin reactions, including rash with systemic symptoms or a progressive severe rash, telaprevir, peginterferon alfa, and ribavirin must be discontinued immediately. Discontinuing other medications known to be associated with serious skin reactions should be considered. Patients should be promptly referred for urgent medical care .
Commonly used brand name(s)
In the U.S.
- Incivek
Pharmacologic Class: Protease Inhibitor
Uses for telaprevir
Telaprevir is used in combination with injectable peginterferon alfa (Pegasys®, Pegintron®) and ribavirin (Copegus®, Rebetol®) to treat chronic hepatitis C infection. These medicines are used in patients with liver disease (including cirrhosis) who have not been treated before or who have received other medicines that did not work well. Telaprevir is an antiviral agent.
Telaprevir was available only with your doctor's prescription.
Telaprevir was withdrawn from the United States market on October 16, 2014.
Before using telaprevir
In deciding to use a medicine, the risks of taking the medicine must be weighed against the good it will do. This is a decision you and your doctor will make. For telaprevir, the following should be considered:
Allergies
Tell your doctor if you have ever had any unusual or allergic reaction to telaprevir or any other medicines. Also tell your health care professional if you have any other types of allergies, such as to foods, dyes, preservatives, or animals. For non-prescription products, read the label or package ingredients carefully.
Pediatric
Appropriate studies have not been performed on the relationship of age to the effects of telaprevir in the pediatric population. Safety and efficacy have not been established.
Geriatric
Although appropriate studies on the relationship of age to the effects of telaprevir have not been performed in the geriatric population, no geriatric-specific problems have been documented to date. However, elderly patients are more likely to have age-related liver problems, which may require caution in patients receiving telaprevir.
Breastfeeding
There are no adequate studies in women for determining infant risk when using this medication during breastfeeding. Weigh the potential benefits against the potential risks before taking this medication while breastfeeding.
Interactions with medicines
Although certain medicines should not be used together at all, in other cases two different medicines may be used together even if an interaction might occur. In these cases, your doctor may want to change the dose, or other precautions may be necessary. When you are taking telaprevir, it is especially important that your healthcare professional know if you are taking any o..
