Drug Database: Hepatitis A and Hepatitis B (Recombinant) Vaccine

What is Twinrix?

Twinrix is a vaccine approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to prevent hepatitis A virus infection (HAV) and hepatitis B virus infection (HBV) in adults 18 years of age and older.

HBV can be an opportunistic infection (OI) of HIV. An OI is an infection that occurs more frequently or is more severe in people with weakened immune systems—such as people with HIV—than in people with healthy immune systems. To learn more about OIs, read the HIVinfo What is an Opportunistic Infection? fact sheet. To learn how HIV and HBV are connected, read the HIVinfo HIV and Hepatitis B fact sheet.

The Guidelines for the Prevention and Treatment of Opportunistic Infections in Adults and Adolescents with HIV include recommendations on the use of Twinrix in people with HIV.

What should I tell my health care provider before receiving Twinrix?

Before receiving Twinrix, tell your health care provider:

• If you are allergic to yeast, neomycin, or any other ingredients in Twinrix; latex; or any medicines. Tell your health care provider if you have ever had any reactions to a previous dose of the vaccine or to any other HAV and HBV vaccines.
• About any medical conditions you have or have had, including any diseases that may weaken your immune system or any acute (sudden) illness with fever.
• About any health conditions that may prevent you from receiving medicine by injection.
• If you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. Talk to your health care provider about the risks and benefits of receiving Twinrix during pregnancy.
• If you are breast/chestfeeding or plan to breast/chestfeed. For people with HIV in the United States, the Guideline recommends speaking with your health care provider to discuss options for feeding your baby. People with suppressed viral load have a less than 1% chance of transmitting HIV to their baby via their own milk.
• About other prescription and nonprescription medicines, vitamins, nutritional supplements, and herbal products you are taking or plan to take. Twinrix may affect the way other medicines or products work, and other medicines or products may affect how Twinrix works. Ask your health care provider if there are interactions between Twinrix and the medicines you take.

Ask your health care provider about possible side effects from Twinrix. Your health care provider will tell you what to do if you have side effects.

How is Twinrix given?

A health care provider gives the Twinrix vaccine. The vaccine is injected into a muscle in the arm. In adults with HIV, vaccination with Twinrix is usually given as a series of either three or four vaccine shots over a 6- or 12-month period. Read any printed information that your health care provider gives you about Twinrix.

Where can I find more information about Twinrix?

• Recommendations on the use of Twinrix in people with HIV, from the Guidelines for the Prevention and Treatment of Opportunistic Infections in Adults and Adolescents with HIV.
• This Patient Version drug summary is based on the following FDA label(s): Injection, suspension. The Patient Counseling Information section of the label includes information for people receiving Twinrix.
• Twinrix-related research studies, from ClinicalTrials.gov. (The ClinicalTrials.gov search can be modified so that you can get results that better match your interests. To learn more about the ClinicalTrials.gov search features, please see How to Search.)