Drugs that potentiate/act synergistically with anti-herpes meds

[Wonkmonk]

I stumbled upon a study which says that the Hepatitis C drug Ribavirin potentiates the anti-herpes activity of acyclovir in vitro and in an animal model (at least against HSV-1):

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1665959

That gave me the idea that drugs that potentiate or act synergistically with acyclovir/gancyclovir etc. could improve results for those who respond to anti-herpes medications (I seem to be one of those).

I'd be happy to hear your opinions if this is something that could make sense, and if perhaps there are any other drugs that improve the efficacy of anti-herpes meds. Or perhaps someone has already tried this.

 

[heapsreal]

I stumbled upon a study which says that the Hepatitis C drug Ribavirin potentiates the anti-herpes activity of acyclovir in vitro and in an animal model (at least against HSV-1):

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1665959

That gave me the idea that drugs that potentiate or act synergistically with acyclovir/gancyclovir etc. could improve results for those who respond to anti-herpes medications (I seem to be one of those).

I'd be happy to hear your opinions if this is something that could make sense, and if perhaps there are any other drugs that improve the efficacy of anti-herpes meds. Or perhaps someone has already tried this.

Its interesting and have considered it but its a drug like valcyte that needs regular blood work done to watch liver and kidney function. I can only vaguely recall a couple of people trying it but i cant recall it helped much.

Probenicid is a gout drug that can improve the effects of antivirals and some antibiotics by increasing their half life and blood concentrations higher. Probably a good way to save money as you will need less antivirals but caution as it can increase some other drugs u might not want to increase blood levels. So careful with other drug interactions.

 

[Wonkmonk]

I think Probenecid (and Cimetidine) is part of Dr Lerner's protocoll. It works by competing with Acyclovir for excretion through the renal tubuli, so less Acyclovir is flushed out and peak concentrations and area under the curve goes up.

I also looked into side effects of Ribavirin, and it seems they can be pretty ugly:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_adverse_effects_of_ribavirin

I'd be interested in other drugs that make Acyclovir more effective.

One option probably is Brivudine (which I tried for some time). Brivudine and Acyclvovir have been found to have additive (but not synergistic) effects in vitro:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6285731

This is interesting because Acyclovir adverse effects affect almost exclusively the kidneys whereas Brivudine's adverse effects affect almost exclusively the liver with no effect on the kidneys whatsoever (can even be used in cases of terminal renal failure).

So, in theory at least, if your liver tolerates Brivudine and your kidney tolerates acyclovir, you can use both for additive effectiveness, but no additive adverse effects on either organ.