No Hiv, No Aids

HIV drugs are used to slow the reproduction of the virus, thus slowing the progression of HIV disease to AIDS.

There are three classes of FDA-approved antiretroviral drugs: NRTIs, PIs, and NNRTIs. (For the full names of these drugs, see the list below.)

The recommended treatment for HIV is a combination drug treatment called Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy, or HAART.
HAART combines three or more HIV drugs.

The recommended HAART regimens are efavirenz plus two NRTIs, indinavir plus two NRTIs, nelfinavir plus two NRTIs, ritonavir and indinavir plus two NRTIs, ritonavir and lopinavir plus two NRTIs, or ritonavir and saquinavir plus two NRTIs.

In general, taking only two drugs is not recommended, because the resulting decrease in viral load is temporary for most people. For most people, taking only one antiretroviral drug is also not recommended (the exception is pregnant women, who may be offered zidovudine alone or with other drugs to reduce the risk of passing HIV to their infants).

If you are pregnant or considering becoming pregnant, there are additional drug considerations.

FDA-approved antiretroviral drugs
NRTIs (Nucleoside/Nucleotide Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors)

• Zidovudine (AZT, ZDV) (Retrovir®)
• Lamivudine (3TC) (Epivir®)
• Tenofovir (Viread™)
• Abacavir (Ziagen™)
• Zidovudine + Lamivudine + Abacavir (Trizivir®)
• Didanosine (ddI) (Videx®)
• Stavudine (d4T) (Zerit®)
• Zalcitabine (ddC) (HIVID®)
• Zidovudine + Lamivudine (Combivir™)

PIs (Protease Inhibitors)

• Saquinavir (Invirase™ & Fortovase™)
• Indinavir (Crixivan®)
• Amprenavir (Agenerase®)
• Ritonavir (Norvir™)
• Nelfinavir (Viracept®)
• Ritonavir/Lopinavir (Kaletra™)

NNRTIs (Non-Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors)

• Nevirapine (Viramune®)
• Delavirdine (Rescriptor®)
• Efavirenz (Sustiva™)