Sustiva: Information for Patients
Sustiva (efavirenz) belongs to a class of anti-HIV drugs known as non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors, which bind to and block the action of reverse transcriptase, an essential protein that HIV needs in order to replicate. Sustiva is also an ingredient in Atripla (efavirenz/emtricitabine/tenofovir). Sustiva (in the form of Atripla) is the preferred NNRTI for HIV-positive adults starting HIV drug therapy for the first time. Sustiva is not recommended during the first 3 months of pregnancy.
Simply: please send me any documentation involving Sustiva testing positive for marijuana.
Dear Steve,
Sustiva does not contain marijuana. However, people taking Sustiva can test positive on a marijuana drug test even if they have never taken marijuana. This can be avoided by asking to receive a more sensitive marijuana test, called a GC/MS test, that will not give a false positive in people taking Sustiva.
This post at TheBody.com has more information on Sustiva and positive marijuana tests:
http://www.thebody.com/Forums/AIDS/Workplace/Q161957.html
More formal documents confirming that Sustiva can cause positive marijuana tests may be found here:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11366375
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11366946
Please let us know if we can provide any additional information.
Courtney McQueen
Associate Publisher
The AIDS Beacon