It’s an understatement to say that HIV is a monster of a disease state. I mean, who’s with me? So many drugs with so many mechanisms of action, it can be hard to keep track. If this sounds like you, struggling to understand the difference between NRTIs and NNRTIs (let alone where they fit into a treatment regimen) you’re not alone. Luckily, this guide right here was literally developed with you in mind. Because someone’s gotta make it make sense, right?
Read MoreDrug
Tenofovir alafenamide [Vemlidy]
Indication
The treatment of adults with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) with compensated liver disease
Read MoreIntegrase Inhibitors (also known as IN Strand Transfer Inhibitors...or commonly abbreviated as INSTIs) first appeared on the market in 2007. This may come as a surprise to you, but their job is to inhibit the HIV enzyme Integrase.
What does Integrase do?
Read MorePIs. Ahhh the ever-so-important private investigators.
Err...I mean protease inhibitors.
You may recall that we've already discussed protease inhibitors in our post on Hepatitis C.
Read MoreNon-Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors, or NNRTIs (pronounced like NRTIs, but with a stutter), are the next class of HIV drugs we will be covering.
What makes a NON-nucleoside as opposed to a regular old fashioned nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor?
Read MoreNucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors make up what's called the "backbone" of every traditional HAART regimen. It is also an awfully long phrase to type, so I will refer to them only as "NRTIs" from here on out.
But before I go on, there's another distinction I have to make. There are actually both nucleoside and nucelotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors. We lump them into the same "NRTI" bucket because they work in exactly the same way. But they are technically different from each other.
Read MoreEditor's note: To date, our most reader requested topic has been HIV. We've written a guest post at MedEd101 to cover the most NAPLEX-worthy testing points. But we thought we'd dig in a little further here. Over the next few weeks, we're posting a series called HIV Boot Camp. We'll shore up your HIV fundamentals. Then we'll breakdown each drug class piece by piece to highlight what you need to know. For convenience, we'll link each part of the series here. Part I
Part II: Treatment Goals and Considerations
Alright. Last time we looked at the background and pathophysiology of HIV. We looked at a small glimpse of what a patient might experience in the early days of an HIV infection. As practitioners, we have to ask ourselves "Now what?" Is it time to just give the patient an Atripla and go on about our day?
Read MoreEditor's note: To date, our most reader requested topic has been HIV. We've written a guest post at MedEd101 to cover the most NAPLEX-worthy testing points. But we thought we'd dig in a little further here. Over the next few weeks, we're posting a series called HIV Boot Camp. We'll shore up your HIV fundamentals. Then we'll breakdown each drug class piece by piece to highlight what you need to know. For convenience, we'll link each part of the series here.
Background
HIV is a bastard. Let's just start right out with that
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