Drug Database: Rifapentine

What is rifapentine?

Rifapentine is an antibacterial prescription medicine approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of active tuberculosis (TB) of the lungs. (Active TB is also called TB disease.) Rifapentine is also FDA-approved for the treatment of latent TB infection to prevent the infection from advancing to active TB disease.

TB 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 TB are connected, read the HIVinfo HIV and Tuberculosis (TB) fact sheet. The fact sheet includes information on TB treatment in people with HIV/TB coinfection.

How is rifapentine used in people with HIV?

The Guidelines for the Prevention and Treatment of Opportunistic Infections in Adults and Adolescents with HIV and the Guidelines for the Prevention and Treatment of Opportunistic Infections in Children with and Exposed to HIV include recommendations on the use of rifapentine to treat latent TB infection to prevent the infection from advancing to active TB disease.

The recommended uses may not always be consistent with FDA-approved uses of rifapentine. See the Adult and Pediatric Opportunistic Infection Guidelines for complete information on recommended uses of rifapentine in adults and children with HIV. Rifapentine may have other recommended uses not listed above.

What should I tell my health care provider before taking rifapentine?

Before taking rifapentine, tell your health care provider:

• If you are allergic to rifapentine, rifampin, rifabutin, or any other medicines. 
• About any medical conditions you have or have had, including HIV infection, liver problems, or porphyria (a group of genetic disorders that mainly affect the skin or nervous system).
• If you know that you have active TB disease or if you have TB that is resistant to treatment with certain medicines.
• About anything that could affect your ability to take medicines, such as difficulty swallowing or remembering to take pills. 
• If you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. Talk to your health care provider about the risks and benefits of taking rifapentine during pregnancy. The Guidelines for the Prevention and Treatment of Opportunistic Infections in Adults and Adolescents with HIV may include other recommendations on the use of rifapentine during pregnancy. Please refer to these guidelines for additional information.
• 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. Rifapentine may affect the way other medicines or products work, and other medicines or products may affect how rifapentine works. Ask your health care provider if there are interactions between rifapentine and the other medicines you take.

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

How should I take rifapentine?

Take rifapentine according to your health care provider’s instructions. Your health care provider will tell you how much rifapentine to take and when to take it. Before you start rifapentine and each time you get a refill, read any printed information that comes with your medicine.

How should rifapentine be stored?

• Store rifapentine at room temperature, 68°F to 77°F (20°C to 25°C). Keep rifapentine dry and store away from heat.
• Keep rifapentine in the container that it came in and keep the container tightly closed.
• Do not use rifapentine if the original seal over the container opening is broken or missing.
• Throw away rifapentine that is no longer needed or expired (out of date). Follow FDA guidelines on how to safely dispose of unused medicine.
• Keep rifapentine and all medicines out of reach of children.

Where can I find more information about rifapentine?

• Recommendations on the HIV-related uses of rifapentine, from the Guidelines for the Prevention and Treatment of Opportunistic Infections in Adults and Adolescents with HIV and the Guidelines for the Prevention and Treatment of Opportunistic Infections in Children with and Exposed to HIV.
• This Patient Version drug summary is based on the following FDA label(s): Tablet (film coated). The Medication Guide includes information for people taking rifapentine.
• The American Hospital Formulary Service (AHFS) Patient Medication Information for rifapentine available from MedlinePlus.
• Rifapentine-related research studies, from ClinicalTrials.gov. (The ClinicalTrials.gov search can be modified so that you can get results that better match your interests.)