This is the main type of treatment for HIV or AIDS. It is not a cure, but it can stop people from becoming ill for many years. The treatment consists of drugs that have to be taken every day for the rest of someone's life.
HIV is a virus and like other viruses, when it is in a cell in the body it produces new copies of itself. With these new copies, HIV can go and infect other previously healthy cells. It is easy for HIV to spread quickly through the billions of cells in the body if it is not stopped from replicating. Antiretroviral treatment consists of drugs which work against HIV infection itself by slowing down the replication of the virus in the body.
For antiretroviral treatment to be effective for a long time, you need to take more than one antiretroviral drug at a time. This is what is known as Combination Therapy. The term Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) is used to describe a combination of three or more anti-HIV drugs.
When HIV replicates it often makes mistakes, leading to different strains. Occasionally, a new strain is produced that happens to be resistant to the effects of an antiretroviral drug. Taking two or more antiretrovirals at the same time vastly reduces the rate at which resistance develops. When a person's immune system is heavily damaged, Opportunistic Infections or cancers develop, which require specific targeted treatment.
Known as the "backbone" of combination therapy. Once HIV enters a cell, NRTIs ensure that the DNA copy made by the reverse transcriptase enzyme is faulty, completely halting the replication process.
Like NRTIs, these drugs stop HIV from replicating within human cells by directly binding to and inhibiting the action of the reverse transcriptase enzyme, interfering with reverse transcription.
These drugs prevent a special type of HIV protease enzyme from cutting long viral protein chains into smaller pieces. This directly blocks the assembly and production of mature, infectious virus particles.
Unlike the other three classes, entry inhibitors act against HIV before it enters a cell. They actively interfere with surface proteins (like gp120 or gp41) to prevent the virus from fusing with the cell membrane.
Most antiretroviral drugs have at least three names. Sometimes a drug is referred to by its research or chemical name (such as AZT). The second name is the common generic name for all drugs with the same chemical structure (e.g., zidovudine). The third name is the brand name given by the pharmaceutical company (e.g., Retrovir). Lastly, an abbreviation might also be used, such as ZDV.
| Abbreviation | Generic Name | Brand Name |
|---|---|---|
| 3TC | lamivudine | Epivir |
| ABC | abacavir | Ziagen |
| AZT or ZDV | zidovudine | Retrovir |
| d4T | stavudine | Zerit |
| ddC | zalcitabine | Hivid |
| ddI | didanosine | Videx (tablet) / Videx EC (capsule) |
| FTC | emtricitabine | Emtriva |
| TDF | tenofovir | Viread |
| Combination | Brand Name |
|---|---|
| ABC + 3TC | Epzicom (US) / Kivexa (Europe) |
| ABC + AZT + 3TC | Trivizir |
| AZT + 3TC | Combivir |
| TDF + FTC | Truvada |
| Generic Name | Brand Name |
|---|---|
| [delavirdine] | [Rescriptor] |
| efavirenz | Sustiva |
| nevirapine | Viramune |
| Generic Name | Brand Name |
|---|---|
| amprenavir/fosamprenavir | Agenerase/Lexiva (US) / Agenerase/Telzir (Europe) |
| atazanavir | Reyataz |
| indinavir | Crixivan |
| lopinavir + ritonavir | Kaletra |
| nelfinavir | Viracept |
| ritonavir | Norvir |
| saquinavir | Fortovase (soft gel capsule) / Invirase (hard gel capsule) |
| tipranavir | Aptivus |
| Code | Generic Name | Brand Name |
|---|---|---|
| T-20 | enfuvirtide | Fuzeon |
