Nelfinavir (Cont.)

Nelfinavir: What Should I Tell My Healthcare Provider?

You should talk with your healthcare provider prior to taking nelfinavir if you have:
 
  • Phenylketonuria
  • Liver disease, such as liver failure, cirrhosis, or hepatitis
  • Diabetes
  • Any allergies, including allergies to food, dyes, or preservatives.
     
Also, let your healthcare provider know if you are:
 
Make sure to tell your healthcare provider about all other medicines you are taking, including prescription and non-prescription medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements.
 
(Click Precautions and Warnings With Nelfinavir to learn more, including information on who should not take the drug.)
 

How Does Nelfinavir Work?

Nelfinavir belongs to a group of AIDS and HIV medications known as protease inhibitors (PIs). These medicines work by blocking a process that the HIV virus needs in order to multiply.
 
HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is the virus that causes AIDS. Like other viruses, HIV must use a person's own cells to reproduce. Once inside an infected cell, the HIV virus uses the cell to make DNA (to make new HIV viruses that can spread to other cells). The DNA is made in long strands that must be clipped into shorter, usable strands using enzymes called proteases.
 
Nelfinavir is a protease inhibitor, which means that it stops protease enzymes from clipping DNA into short strands. Since the long, unclipped DNA strands cannot be used to make new viruses, this helps stop the spread of HIV to other uninfected cells.
 
Nelfinavir is not a cure for HIV or AIDS. It can help stop HIV from infecting uninfected cells in the body, but it does not help cells that have already been infected with the virus.
 
(Nelfinavir Continued: Page 3)

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Written by/reviewed by: Kristi Monson, PharmD; Arthur Schoenstadt, MD
Last reviewed by: Kristi Monson, PharmD;