Taking Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) with other medicines and herbal supplements

Cautions with other medicines

Some medicines and PrEP can affect each other and increase your risk of side effects.

Tell your clinic doctor if you're taking any of these medicines before taking PrEP:

• ibuprofen or diclofenac – non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) that can affect the kidneys
• sofosbuvir, ledipasvir or any other medicine used to treat hepatitis C

Also tell your doctor if you're taking anabolic steroids, as these can raise your cholesterol levels.

Taking PrEP with gender-affirming hormone replacement therapy (HRT)

It's OK to take PrEP if you are also taking gender-affirming hormones.

If you are a trans woman taking PrEP, hormones can lower the levels of PrEP slightly but not enough to affect your PrEP treatment.

PrEP and fitness supplements

If you take creatine as part as a fitness supplement, it can affect the results of your kidney function tests. Taking this supplement can make it look as though you have higher levels of creatine in your body and that your kidneys are not functioning normally. This may affect whether you can take PrEP or not.

If you're using creatine, let your clinic doctor know.

Mixing PrEP with herbal remedies and supplements

There's not enough information to say that herbal remedies and supplements are safe to take with PrEP. They're not tested in the same way as pharmacy and prescription medicines.