Abstract:
Background: Treatment options are limited for TB/HIV-coinfected children who require PI-based ART. Rifabutin
is the preferred rifamycin for adults on PIs, but the one study evaluating rifabutin with PIs among children was
stopped early due to severe neutropenia.
Methods: We evaluated rifabutin safety and plasma pharmacokinetics among coinfected children 3–15 years of
age receiving rifabutin 2.5 mg/kg daily with standard doses of lopinavir/ritonavir. The AUC0–24 at 2, 4 and 8 weeks
after rifabutin initiation was described using intensive sampling and non-compartmental analysis. Clinical and
laboratory toxicities were intensively monitored at 12 visits throughout the study.
Results: Among 15 children with median (IQR) age 13.1 (10.9–14.0) years and weight 25.5 (22.3–30.5) kg, the
median (IQR) rifabutin AUC0–24 was 5.21 (4.38–6.60) lg h/mL. Four participants had AUC0–24 below 3.8 lg h/mL
(a target for the population average exposure) at week 2 and all had AUC0–24 higher than 3.8 lg h/mL at the 4
and 8 week visits. Of 506 laboratory evaluations during rifabutin, grade 3 and grade 4 abnormalities occurred in
16 (3%) and 2 (0.4%) instances, respectively, involving 9 (60%) children. Specifically, grade 3 (n = 4) and grade 4
(n = 1) neutropenia resolved without treatment interruption or clinical sequelae in all patients. One child died at
week 4 of HIV-related complications.
Conclusions: In children, rifabutin 2.5 mg/kg daily achieved AUC0–24 comparable to adults and favourable HIV
and TB treatment outcomes were observed. Severe neutropenia was relatively uncommon and improved with
ongoing rifabutin therapy. These data support the use of rifabutin for TB/HIV-coinfected children who require
lopinavir/ritonavir.
