Low Incidence and Brief Duration of Gastrointestinal Adverse Events with Darunavir/Cobicistat/Emtricitabine/Tenofovir Alafenamide (D/C/F/TAF) Over 96 Weeks: Post hoc Analyses of AMBER and EMERALD

Gastrointestinal intolerance has been associated with ritonavir-boosted protease inhibitors. This post hoc analysis evaluated gastrointestinal adverse events of interest (AEOIs; diarrhea, nausea, abdominal discomfort, flatulence [MedDRAv21]) through Wk96 among patients enrolled in the phase 3 AMBER (treatment-naïve) and EMERALD (virologically suppressed) studies of darunavir/cobicistat/emtricitabine/tenofovir alafenamide (D/C/F/TAF) 800/150/200/10 mg. 362 and 763 patients initiated D/C/F/TAF in AMBER and EMERALD, respectively. All D/C/F/TAF-related gastrointestinal AEOIs were grade 1/2 in severity; none were serious. Across studies, incidence of D/C/F/TAF-related diarrhea and nausea were each ≤5% in Wk1 (≤1% post-Wk2); prevalence of each decreased to <5% post-Wk2. In each study, there was 1 case of D/C/F/TAF-related abdominal discomfort during Wk1 and none thereafter. Incidence of D/C/F/TAF-related flatulence was <1% throughout. Median duration of D/C/F/TAF-related gastrointestinal AEOIs was 16.5 (AMBER) and 8.5 (EMERALD) days. In conclusion, in treatment-naïve and virologically suppressed patients, incidences and prevalences of D/C/F/TAF-related gastrointestinal AEOIs were low and tended to present early.