HIV medications are designed to stop the reproduction or "replication" of HIV in your body and help slow the progression of HIV-related disease. Today there are over 20 meds available to treat HIV and every medication fits into one of four classes, or "families." Each class fights HIV in a different way. The main difference is the stage of HIV replication that each class specifically targets.

HIV medications are almost always used in combination. The recommended treatment for HIV is a combination of three or more meds from at least two different classes in a treatment regimen
called Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy or HAART.¹ By using meds from more than one class, you can fight HIV at different stages of its replication.

Today, a wide selection of med combinations are available with a range of profiles in terms of side effects, dosing and number of pills, including several once-a-day meds and regimens. Together, you and your healthcare provider will decide which meds are right for you.


If you're starting or maybe changing your therapy, talk to your healthcare provider about which HIV treatment regimen might work for you. Keep in mind that you and your healthcare provider will ultimately decide which meds are right for you by taking into account a variety of factors, including lifestyle, potential side effects, dosing frequency, lab values and HIV resistance.

Treatment guidelines for HIV meds exist to help healthcare providers make appropriate recommendations for therapy. These guidelines are developed by panels of HIV experts who review scientific evidence and clinical practice on current HIV meds. They then publish their recommendations in guidelines, such as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' (DHHS) Treatment Guidelines. The DHHS guidelines list select meds as “preferred” and others as “alternative” as part of HIV treatment regimens. Other topics covered in the guidelines include HIV therapy goals, recommendations for when to start treatment and HIV meds that may be taken during pregnancy.

The International AIDS Society (IAS)-USA Panel also periodically publishes a set of treatment guidelines.

With these recommendations in mind, you and your healthcare provider can choose a regimen that is right for you.


There are four different classes of HIV meds:

• Nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs), also called "nukes"
• Non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs), also called "non-nukes"
• Protease inhibitors (PIs)
• Fusion inhibitors (FIs), also called "entry" inhibitors

NRTIs contain faulty versions of the building blocks (nucleosides) used by reverse transcriptase, an enzyme (protein) that HIV needs to make more copies of itself. When reverse transcriptase uses an NRTI instead of a normal building block, this helps to stop the replication of the virus.

NNRTIs also target reverse transcriptase, but in a different way than NRTIs do. NNRTIs help slow down HIV replication by attaching themselves to reverse transcriptase, preventing the enzyme from translating viral RNA into DNA.

PIs target the protease enzyme, which cuts up long chains of genetic material into smaller pieces to complete viral replication. This is one of the final steps in the production of HIV. By helping to block protease, PIs can prevent new copies of HIV from being made.

FIs work by blocking an important step in the process of HIV entry into CD4 cells known as fusion. By blocking fusion, FIs may prevent HIV from entering and infecting CD4 cells.

To find out more information about specific HIV meds that are currently available today, click here or talk to your healthcare provider.





1. Adapted from Guidelines for the Use of Antiretroviral Agents in HIV-1-Infected Adults and Adolescents. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Panel on Antiretroviral Guidelines for Adults and Adolescents (a Working Group of the Office of AIDS Research Advisory Council). May 4, 2006.