Drug	Black box warnings*	Adverse effects	Medications to avoid†	Food requirements
Abacavir (Ziagen)7	Hypersensitivity reactions, lactic acidosis, and severe hepatomegaly with steatosis have been reported.	Fever, rash, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, malaise, fatigue, loss of appetite, respiratory symptoms, lactic acidosis, headache, insomnia	None listed	Take without regard to meals. Coadministration with ethanol increases drug levels by 41% but has no effect on ethanol.
Didanosine (Videx)7	Pancreatitis, lactic acidosis, and severe hepatomegaly with steatosis have been reported.	Peripheral neuropathy, nausea, rash, pancreatitis, diarrhea, headache, fever	None listed	Take 30 minutes before or 2 hours after meals. Alcohol use increases risk of pancreatitis.
Emtricitabine (Emtriva)8	Lactic acidosis and severe hepatomegaly with steatosis have been reported.	Headache, diarrhea, nausea, rash, skin discoloration	None listed	Take without regard to meals.
Lamivudine (Epivir)7	Lactic acidosis and severe hepatomegaly with steatosis have been reported.	Minimal toxicity	None listed	Take without regard to meals.
Stavudine (Zerit)7	Pancreatitis, lactic acidosis, and severe hepatomegaly with steatosis have been reported.	Headache, diarrhea, rash, nausea, vomiting, pancreatitis, peripheral neuropathy, and ascending neuromuscular weakness	None listed	Take without regard to meals.
Tenofovir (Viread)7	Lactic acidosis and severe hepatomegaly with steatosis have been reported.	Asthenia, headache, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, flatulence, and anorexia	None listed	Better if taken with food but not required
Zalcitabine (Hivid)7	Severe peripheral neuropathy, pancreatitis, lactic acidosis, severe hepatomegaly with steatosis, and hepatic failure and death in patients with possible underlying hepatitis B infection have been reported.	Peripheral neuropathy, fatigue, headache, fever, vomiting, nausea, diarrhea, rash, abnormal hepatic function, and stomatitis	None listed	Take without regard to meals.
Zidovudine (Retrovir)7	Hematologic toxicity, lactic acidosis, severe hepatomegaly with steatosis, and symptomatic myopathy have been reported.	Bone marrow suppression; anemia or neutropenia; gastrointestinal intolerance; headache, insomnia, asthenia, and anorexia	None listed	Take without regard to meals.