Treatments of AIDS

Treatment of Aids Name: Course: Professor Name: (March 17, 2012) .  Treatment of Aids The HIV drugs are divided into five classes, with over 22 drugs licensed and used for the treatment of HIV. The drugs are divided depending on how they attach HIV. It’s usually advisable to at least combine drugs from two different classes of drugs so as to avoid creating strains of HIV that are immune to single drugs. The first class is the Nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs). The drugs in this class include AZT (zidovudine, Retrovir), ddl (didanosine, Videx), 3TC (lamivudine, Epivir), d4T (stavudine, Zerit), abacavir (ziagen), and FTC (emtricitabine, Emtriva). There also exists a nucleotide analogue reverse transcriptase inhibitor called tenofovir (viread). The AZT and 3TC drugs are available in a combined pill called Combivir and AZT, abacavir and 3TC are available in a combined form called Trizirvir. There also exist a single pill of AZT and abacir called kivexa. Also a single pill combing FTC and the nucleotide analogue tenofovir called Truvada is also available in the markets. A single pill called Sustiva which is a combination of NNRTI, FTC and tenofovir is also available (Kane, 2008). The second class is Non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTI, or non-Nukes). Drugs in this class include: efavirenz (Sustiva), etravirine (intelence) and nevirapine (Viramune). It also has some combines which include: Atripla, which is a combination of NRTI, FTC, tenofovir and the nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitor. The third class is the Protease inhibitors (PIs). The drugs in this class include: atazanavir (Reyataz), darunavir (Prezista), fosamprenavir (Telzir), indinavir (Crixivan), lopnavir (kaletra), nelfinavir (Viracept), ritonavir (Norvir), saquinavir (Invirase) and tipranavir (Aptivus). Persons who t...