Acyclovir Tablet 200 mg, 400 mg, 800 mg Suppliers & Bulk Manufacturers

Available Forms: Tablets

Available Strengths: 200 mg, 400 mg, 800 mg

Reference Brands: Zovirax (USA/EU),

Category: Anti Viral

Acyclovir is used to decrease pain and speed the healing of sores or blisters in people who have varicella (chickenpox), herpes zoster (shingles; a rash that can occur in people who have had chickenpox in the past), and first-time or repeat outbreaks of genital herpes (a herpes virus infection that causes sores to form around the genitals and rectum from time to time).

Product Description:

Aciclovir is the drug that made antiviral therapy practical. It is a guanosine analogue that is essentially inert until a virus activates it: herpes virus thymidine kinase adds the first phosphate, and only infected cells accumulate the active triphosphate, which then inhibits viral DNA polymerase and terminates the DNA chain. That dependence on a viral enzyme is why it is so well tolerated — uninfected cells barely process it.

Tablets are used for herpes simplex infections, genital herpes, herpes zoster (shingles) and chickenpox, and for suppression of frequent recurrences. Treatment works best started within the first days of symptoms, which is why patients with recurrent disease often hold a supply at home. Oral bioavailability is only about fifteen to twenty percent, so doses are large and frequent — five times daily for some indications — which is the main reason valaciclovir, its better-absorbed prodrug, has displaced it in many markets. It is cleared renally, so the dose is reduced in kidney impairment, where neurotoxicity can otherwise occur.

Sourcing notes. Off patent, inexpensive, on essential medicines lists, with many manufacturers — a commodity where tender price and reliability decide. Tablets, dispersible tablets, suspension, cream and injection are separate registrations.