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Medications Used in HIV Infection Treatment

In HIV treatment, a treatment or a medication that can completely destroy the infection does not exist yet. Since the invention of first medications, actual function of the treatment is to prevent the virus from replicating itself in the body. Medications used for HIV infection are classified in several groups based on certain steps of viral replication:

1 – Nucleoside and Nucleotide analog Reverse-transcriptase Inhibitors NRTI

These are the first invented medications in HIV infection treatment. They prevent HIV from self-replication by producing DNA from its genetic material, its RNA.

2- Non-nucleoside Reverse-transcriptase Inhibitors NNRTI

Just like NRTI medications, these medications also prevent the viral replication.

3-Protease Inhibitors PI

Use of these medications started in 1996. They are the most powerful medications in HIV treatment. They prevent the replicated viruses from going out of the cell. In other words, they prevent the new virus occurrence. They must be used with another medication from NRT1/NNRT1 group.

4 – Integrase Inhibitors

They prevent the virus from self-replication by destroying the enzyme which enables the virus settle in the nucleus of CD4 cell and replicate.

5 – Fusion Inhibitors FI

They prevent the virus from clinging to CD4 cell.

6 – Adjuvant Receptor Inhibitor

It prevents the virus from clinging to CD4 cell by blocking the receptors that help the virus cling.

In Turkey, medications from NRTI, NNRTI, PI and Integrase groups are used. HIV treatment includes a combination of more than one medication from these groups. But in recent years, prescription of one-pill medication diets, in which more than one pill are combined and one pill intake every 24 hours is essential, started in Turkey.