HIV Therapeutics, Biochemistry of

Abstract

Although significant progress has been made in the treatment of HIV infection, we are still far from wining the battle. The combination of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in compliant patients comes close to stopping virus evolution; however, eradication of the infection has not been achieved because of the persistence of latent HIV-1 in resting memory CD4+ T cells. Moreover, several factors including the emergence of multidrug-resistant HIV strains, drug toxicity, the patient's ability to adhere to the prescribed therapy, and expensive medication have necessitated a reason to develop novel drugs and novel approaches to combat HIV infection.

Currently, the HAART regimen consists of nucleoside and nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase (RT) combined with protease (PR) inhibitors. This article summarizes all currently approved drugs for HIV-1 infection as well as drugs that have made significant progress in clinical trials but have not yet been approved. Where appropriate, their mechanism of action, mechanism of resistance, and toxicity are discussed