Strategies for first line HIV therapy

May 2008     View PDF     En español

Remember the goals of therapy

Being on effective HIV drugs should lower your HIV level as low as possible (preferably to undetectable) and increase your CD4 count. This should happen without causing debilitating side effects or harming your quality of life. The regimen should be easy enough to take so you can take each dose as prescribed (adhere well).

Adhering to medicines cannot be stressed enough. The most common reason for failed therapy is missed doses. So, adherence must play a significant role in the decisions you make about treatment. Project Inform’s publication, Adherence: Keeping up with Your Meds, can help you prepare for and maintain good adherence.

Five classes of HIV drugs are approved for use in different combinations. They are:

• NRTIs/NtRTIs (nucleoside and nucleotide analog reverse transcriptase inhibitors),
• NNRTIs (non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors),
• PIs (protease inhibitors),
• Entry inhibitors, and
• Integrase inhibitors.

Each class works in different ways to stop HIV from making more of itself, called replication. Currently, three or more HIV drugs together forms an effective regimen. For first line therapy this usually includes two NRTIs and either one NNRTI or PI. A list of these drugs can be found in the Drug ID Chart.