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What is the Precautionary and Prohibited Medications Database?

The Precautionary and Prohibited Medications Database is a tool for developing HIV research protocols. The database provides recent information about possible medication interactions, based primarily on new data from recent scientific conferences. Investigators and research staff may access the most current pharmacokinetic data regarding drug-drug interactions for medications utilized in each of several ACTG scientific focus areas. More information on ACTG focus areas can be found at the following web address: https://actgnetwork.org/committees/scientific.

Should patients or clinical practitioners use this site to find information about drug interactions?

The Precautionary and Prohibited Medications Database is not intended for patients or practitioners. This site contains new data that has been presented at scientific conferences. This information is provided to help guide researchers designing studies so that they have access to the most current data. Some results need further research or may change quickly as newer data is available. As a result, this database changes frequently and is not intended to inform clinical decisions.

How are the precautionary or prohibited designations on this site determined?

Conference abstracts that may contain information about medication interactions are reviewed by trained analysts. The analyst determines if the information in the publication should be considered a precautionary or prohibited interaction, and writes a summary of the study and its findings. This information is then reviewed by a subject matter expert specializing in the type of medication discussed in the abstract or article for accuracy.

A precautionary or prohibited designation for a drug has changed. Why?

Information on this site is subject to change as conferences and publications are reviewed. Studies may alter their findings or newer studies may provide different conclusions than previous studies on the same drug interaction. For this reason, the Precautionary and Prohibited Medications Database should be used as a tool for protocol design. Linking to a specific interaction page, for example, is not recommended because the details of that interaction may change over time as newer information becomes available.

What are the sources of data on this site?

Please view our Database operations page for specifics on gathering and entering sources by following this data sources link.