@A myHIVteam Member, Dovato is a fairly new drug and I believe that many people all over the world are now using it without problems. Hopefully you will be one of them.

Like you, I was put on Dovato because of kidney concerns. My eGFR was worrying low, my clinic said. So I started taking Dovato, but soon suffered huge CNS side-effects, particularly severe insomnia, nightmares, and neuropathy. The doctors said these would all eventually go away, but they didn't.

Meanwhile I gave all of my eGFR results from the previous 5 years to a medic friend who plotted them on a graph and showed that they remained just above the danger-line and had declined in a constant and gradual manner consistent with that of healthy non-HIV people of my age (70).

So I presented this data to my clinic and they agreed that I could stop using Dovato and could safely return to the cocktail I was on. A year later my eGFR remains stable on the same age-related declining trajectory. Gradual kidney decline is normal as we age.

I should not have been put on Dovato. I wonder if the clinic's motivation was financial: the cost of one-pill-per-day Dovato vs the cost of my cocktail of 3 separate tablets per day.

Mentioned Users

A myHIVte...

problems breathing
Liver problems. People with a history of hepatitis B or C virus may have an increased risk of developing new or worsening changes in certain liver tests during treatment with DOVATO. Liver problems, including liver failure, have also happened in people without a history of liver disease or other risk factors. Your healthcare provider may do blood tests to check your liver.
Tell your healthcare provider right away if you get any of the following signs or symptoms of liver problems:

your skin or the white part of your eyes turns yellow (jaundice)
dark or “tea-colored” urine
light-colored stools (bowel movements)
nausea or vomiting
loss of appetite
pain, aching, or tenderness on the right side of your stomach area
Too much lactic acid in your blood (lactic acidosis). Too much lactic acid is a serious medical emergency that can lead to death.
Tell your healthcare provider right away if you get any of the following symptoms that could be signs of lactic acidosis