Emtricitabine description
Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Ahmed Zaghw, M.D. [2]
Description
EMTRIVA is the brand name of emtricitabine, a synthetic nucleoside analog with activity against human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) reverse transcriptase.
The chemical name of emtricitabine is 5-fluoro-1-(2R,5S)-[2-(hydroxymethyl)-1,3-oxathiolan-5-yl]cytosine. Emtricitabine is the enantiomer of a thio analog of cytidine, which differs from other cytidine analogs in that it has a fluorine in the 5-position.
It has a molecular formula of C8H10FN3O3S and a molecular weight of 247.24. It has the following structural formula:
 |
Emtricitabine is a white to off-white powder with a solubility of approximately 112 mg/mL in water at 25 °C. The log P for emtricitabine is -0.43 and the pKa is 2.65.
EMTRIVA is available as capsules or as an oral solution.
EMTRIVA capsules are for oral administration. Each capsule contains 200 mg of emtricitabine and the inactive ingredients crospovidone, magnesium stearate, microcrystalline cellulose, povidone, titanium dioxide, gelatin, and FD&C blue No. 2.
EMTRIVA oral solution is for oral administration. One milliliter (1 mL) of EMTRIVA oral solution contains 10 mg of emtricitabine in an aqueous solution with the following inactive ingredients: cotton candy flavor, FD&C yellow No. 6, edetate disodium, methylparaben and propylparaben (added as preservatives), sodium phosphate (monobasic), propylene glycol, water, and xylitol (added as a sweetener). Sodium hydroxide and hydrochloric acid may be used to adjust pH.[1]
References
Adapted from the FDA Package Insert.