What is Kaletra and how does it work?
Kaletra is a combination of two medicines. They are lopinavir and ritonavir. Kaletra is a type of medicine called an HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) protease (PRO-tee-ase) inhibitor. Kaletra is always used in combination with other anti-HIV medicines to treat people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Kaletra is for adults and for children age 6 months and older. HIV infection destroys CD4 (T) cells, which are important to the immune system. After a large number of T cells are destroyed, acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) develops. Kaletra blocks HIV protease, a chemical which is needed for HIV to multiply. Kaletra reduces the amount of HIV in your blood and increases the number of T cells. Reducing the amount of HIV in the blood reduces the chance of death or infections that happen when your immune system is weak (opportunistic infections).
