The rapid advances in drug discovery and the development of antiretroviral therapy is unprecedented in the history of modern medicine. The administration of chronic combination antiretroviral therapy targeting different stages of the human immunodeficiency virus' replicative life cycle allows for durable and maximal suppression of plasma viremia. This suppression has resulted in dramatic improvement of patient survival. This article reviews the history of antiretroviral drug development and discusses the clinical pharmacology, efficacy, and toxicities of the antiretroviral agents most commonly used in clinical practice to date.
Keywords: Antiretroviral therapy; CCR5 antagonist; Fusion inhibitor; HIV; Integrase strand transfer inhibitors; Non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors; Nucleoside/nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors; Protease inhibitors.
Published by Elsevier Inc.