Introduction to Antiretroviral Drugs

Despite the decades-long stall in antimicrobial drug development, one area that has seen substantial growth is the development of antiretroviral drugs targeting the HIV virus. Only a single active drug (zidovudine) was available near the beginning of the epidemic in the mid-1980s, and today more than two dozen drugs and drug combinations are available with more in the pipeline. Some anti-retroviral drug classes are in their second or third generation of agents, leaving some of the earlier agents essentially obsolete. The development and proper usage of these agents have moved HIV infection toward the realm of a chronic disease rather than a short-term “death sentence.” More than any other antimicrobial group, however, the antiretrovirals come with the challenges of taking complex multidrug regimens for years: drug adherence, resistance, toxicities, and interactions. The full scope of these issues is beyond this text; instead, we will highlight key aspects of the drug classes and unique properties of individual agents, especially as related to toxicities. The latest information on drugs and regimens is available at http://aidsinfo.  nih.gov. Important note: we present the commonly used abbreviations for these agents so that you may recognize them in practice, but it is not acceptable to use these abbreviations in prescriptions and not recommended to use them in patient documentation.

References

Gallagher ,J.C. and MacDougall ,c. (2012). Antibiotics Simplified. Second Edition. Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC.