HIV Treatments

Scientists have developed drugs that block HIV from reproducing (multiplying). These drugs are grouped into classes. Each class of drugs works to stop HIV at a certain point in its life cycle. So far there are five classes of drugs:

• Entry inhibitors (includes Fusion inhibitors and CCR5 antagonists)
• Integrase inhibitors
• Nucleoside/nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors (“nukes” or NRTIs)
• Non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (“non-nukes” or NNRTIs)
• Protease inhibitors (PIs)

HIV drugs are always used in combination to attack the virus at different points in its life cycle. This usually means using drugs from at least two classes. Combining HIV drugs is the best way to reduce the amount of HIV in your blood ( viral load).