Aidan: Created page with "== Background == * Antiviral closely related to acyclovir * Oral prodrug to penciclovir, which is phosphorylated by viral thymidine kinase then by cellular kinases to its active triphosphate form inside of infected cells * Competitively inhibits DNA polymerase by competing with deoxyguanosing triphosphate, getting incorporate into the replicating DNA strand and halting further replication * Indicated for the treatment of herpes zoster virus and herpes simp..."

2026-04-21T17:37:24Z

Created page with "== Background == * Antiviral closely related to acyclovir * Oral prodrug to penciclovir, which is phosphorylated by viral thymidine kinase then by cellular kinases to its active triphosphate form inside of infected cells * Competitively inhibits DNA polymerase by competing with deoxyguanosing triphosphate, getting incorporate into the replicating DNA strand and halting further replication * Indicated for the treatment of herpes zoster virus and herpes simp..."

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== Background ==

* Antiviral closely related to [[acyclovir]]
* Oral prodrug to [[penciclovir]], which is phosphorylated by viral thymidine kinase then by cellular kinases to its active triphosphate form inside of infected cells
* Competitively inhibits DNA polymerase by competing with deoxyguanosing triphosphate, getting incorporate into the replicating DNA strand and halting further replication
* Indicated for the treatment of [[herpes zoster virus]] and [[herpes simplex virus]]
* Formulations include 125 mg, 250 g, and 500 mg tablets

== Dosage ==

* VZV: 500 mg p.o. three times daily for 7 days, started within 3 days of rash onset
* HSV:
** Recurrent genital herpes: 125 mg p.o twice daily for 5 days
** Suppression of recurrent genital herpes: 250 mg p.o. twice daily for up to 1 year
** Recurrent mucocutaneous herpes in patients with HIV: 500 mg p.o. twice daily for 7 days

=== Renal Dosing ===
{| class="wikitable"
!CrCl
!VZV
!Recurrent HSV
!Suppression of HSV
!Recurrent HSV in HIV
|-
|>60
|500 mg q8h
| rowspan="3" |125 mg q12h
| rowspan="2" |250 mg q12h
| rowspan="2" |500 q12h
|-
|40-59
|500 q12h
|-
|20-39
|500 q24h
|125 mg q12h
|500 mg q24h
|-
|<20
|250 mg q24h
|125 mg q24h
|125 mg q24h
|250 mg q24h
|-
|HD
|250 mg after each dialysis
|125 mg after each dialysis
|125 mg after each dialysis
|250 mg after each dialysis
|}
[[Category:Antivirals]]

Famciclovir - Revision history