HIV/AIDS Glossary

A group of drugs that share common properties, such as a similar mechanism of action, chemical structure, or approved use. Approved antiretroviral (ARV) HIV drugs are divided into eight drug classes based on how each drug interferes with the HIV life cycle. These eight classes are nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs), non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs), protease inhibitors (PIs), fusion inhibitors, CCR5 antagonists, post-attachment inhibitors, integrase strand transfer inhibitors (INSTIs), and capsid inhibitors.