ABSTRACT
A fixed-dose combination of lopinavir and ritonavir (lopinavir–ritonavir, Kaletra, Aluvia), is an important agent in the pharmacotherapy of HIV infection. Lopinavir (formerly known as ABT-378) is an HIV-1-specific protease inhibitor engineered to address the shortcomings of earlier agents in the protease inhibitor class. It is the only protease inhibitor to be co-formulated with ritonavir, an older generation protease inhibitor now exploited only in low dose for its pharmacological enhancing effect (Sham et al., 1998). Ritonavir, a potent inhibitor of hepatic cytochrome P-450 (CYP) 3A isoenzyme (AbbVie, 2015a), decreases metabolism and increases plasma levels of lopinavir.
