Introduction – What is Zostex®?
Zostex® is a drug that inhibits the replication of viruses. It is therefore used for antiviral therapy for shingles. The tablets contain the active ingredient Brivudine. It is important that it is never used in combination with drugs containing 5-fluoropyrimidines or 5-fluorouracil. This would lead to life-threatening interactions.
When is Zostex® used?
Generally, Zostex® is prescribed for shingles, a disease caused by the Varicella Zoster virus. When the immune system is weakened, the viruses spread along nerve tracts. This leads to the typical painful skin rashes.
Particularly feared is the so-called post-zoster pain, which remains even after shingles has subsided. Zostex® can prevent this. But not every shingles outbreak needs to be treated with antiviral medication.
However, the use of Zostex is recommended for patients with more than 50 cases of facial erysipelas (= shingles on the face) with very severe symptoms Patients with a reduced immune system (after organ transplantation, HIV, under chemotherapy, etc.) Patients who also suffer from severe neurodermatitis Children and adolescents who take cortisone or salicylates on a permanent basis
- Patients over 50
- Facial rose (= shingles on the face)
- Very severe clinical picture
- Patients with reduced immune system (after organ transplantation, HIV, under chemotherapy, etc. )
- Patients who also suffer from severe neurodermatitis
- Children and adolescents who take cortisone or salicylates on a long-term basis
How does Zostex® work?
The active ingredient of Zostex® is called Brivudin. It is a nucleoside analog. This means that the viruses can no longer multiply because the wrong building block is introduced into their genetic material (DNA).
What is special about brivudine is that it is a prudrug with a long residence time. It only develops its effect in the infected cells. In this way, healthy body cells are not affected. Compared to other antiviral drugs, Zostex seems to have a better efficacy. In particular, post-zoster pain occurs about 25% less frequently when Zostex® is administered.
