Do Antidepressants Make HIV Meds Less Effective?

The National Institutes of Health has given the Emerging Global Leader Award to Waheed Adedeji, a clinician and scientist, to investigate how antidepressants influence HIV medication. Adedeji will look at people living with HIV in Nigeria.

The Emerging Global Leader Award, provided by the NIH Fogarty International Center, supports career development of scientists in low- and middle-income countries.

The study will examine the antidepressant fluoxetine against the absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion of the HIV drug dolutegravir, according to an article from the University at Buffalo.

Participants are adults with depression in Nigeria, as the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, noted they had the second highest HIV infection rate in the world.

“Dr. Adedeji is a highly motivated young physician-scientist with great potential to become an independently funded clinical investigator in HIV clinical pharmacology and pharmacogenomics, as well as a national research leader in Nigeria,” said CIGBS director Gene Morse.

CIGBS addresses global health challenges through pharmacological education. They have an extensive history in training scientists through partnerships with universities around the world.

Gary M. Pollack, dean of the UB School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, said, “I am so proud of the work done by Dr. Morse and his colleagues and trainees in the CIGBS. It is an excellent example of the global impact that great public research universities can have, especially in regions of profound need.”

Adedeji, who completed a postdoctoral fellowship at CIGBS under the mentorship of Morse in 2017, also received his master’s degree in pharmacology and a master of public health degree. Both master’s came from the University of Ibadan.