Liverpool COVID-19 Drug Interactions

One of the key developments in the fight against HIV/AIDS was the introduction of protease inhibitors in the mid-1990's. This class of drugs in combination with a nucleoside analogue backbone (highly active antiretroviral therapy, HAART) had a huge impact on viral suppression and patient outcome. However, an important trade off was that the protease inhibitors were either the perpetrator or victim of multiple drug-drug interactions. The Liverpool University Drug Interactions group recognised the problem and began developing a web-based resource (www.hiv-druginteractions.org) which over the last 20 years has become very much the gold standard and is now recommended in over 30 international guidelines and many national guidelines. The website has an associated App. In 2011, direct acting antivirals were introduced to treat Hepatitis C and the Liverpool team responded with a new website (www.hep-druginteractions.org) and App. In 2019, these websites had over 50,000 unique monthly visitors searching for > 4.5 million interactions. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and to address the pressing need for prescribing support for studies and clinical situations where experimental COVID therapies are being used, we have developed a static drug interactions website (www.covid19-druginteractions.org) providing information on the likelihood of interactions between the experimental agents and commonly prescribed co-medications. We now have to move to develop a fully interactive and searchable website resource with an associated App. The website will be constantly updated and populated with the latest information on experimental therapies as it emerges with guidance given to clinicians for managing complex patients.