How do antiviral medications treat HIV?
The goals of HIV therapy are to slow the growth of the virus and reduce the level of HIV in a person’s body, known as the viral load. Currently, there are 15 antiviral drugs available for the treatment of HIV, with many more in clinical development. The approved drugs are divided into three classes: protease inhibitors (PIs), nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs), and non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs). All three classes of antiviral drugs work by interrupting the process of HIV reproduction. Protease inhibitors block a part of HIV called protease, while NRTIs and NNRTIs block the reverse transcriptase enzyme. Each of these interruptions in the HIV replication process prevents the virus from infecting new cells.
