Clinical Medication Against HIV/AIDS

Abstract

Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) has been applied since the middle of 1990s. It combines medications against the replication of HIV in different stages to maximally inhibit the replication of HIV, which has been proved to be the most effective therapy targeting on the etiological factors of HIV/AIDS. In the year of 1987, the first antiretroviral medication, AZT, was developed. So far, there has been totally more than 30 medications (categorized into six types) against HIV/AIDS, including Nucleoside Reerse Transocriptase Inhibitors (NRTIs), Non Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (NNRTIs), Protease Inhibitors (PIs), Integrase Inhibitors (IIs), Entry/Fusion Inhibitors (EIs/FIs) and CCR5 inhibitor (maraviroc). Since Chinese government began to promote antiviral therapy free of charge in the year of 2003, the death rate has obviously been decreased and the quality of life in patients with AIDS has been greatly improved. In China, four types of antiretroviral medications are administered, namely NNRTIs, NRTIs, PIs and IIs with a total of 12 drugs.