FDA-Approved HIV Medicines
Last Reviewed: July 22, 2020
Treatment with HIV medicines is called antiretroviral therapy (ART). ART is recommended for everyone with HIV, and people with HIV should start ART as soon as possible. People on ART take a combination of HIV medicines (called an HIV treatment regimen) every day. A person’s initial HIV regimen generally includes three HIV medicines from at least two different HIV drug classes.
The following table lists HIV medicines recommended for the treatment of HIV infection in the United States based on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) HIV/AIDS medical practice guidelines. All of these drugs are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The HIV medicines are listed according to drug class and identified by generic and brand names. Click on a drug name to view information on the drug from the AIDSinfo Drug Database. Or download the AIDSinfo Drug Database app to view the information on your Apple or Android devices.
To see a timeline of all FDA approval dates for HIV medicines, view the AIDSinfo FDA Approval of HIV Medicines infographic.
FDA-Approved HIV Medicines Drug Class Generic Name
(Other names and acronyms)
Brand Name FDA Approval Date
Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (NRTIs)
NRTIs block reverse transcriptase, an enzyme HIV needs to make copies of itself. abacavir
(abacavir sulfate, ABC) Ziagen December 17, 1998
emtricitabine
(FTC)
Emtriva July 2, 2003
lamivudine
(3TC) Epivir November 17, 1995
tenofovir disoproxil
fumarate
(tenofovir DF, TDF) Viread October 26, 2001
zidovudine
(azidothymidine, AZT, ZDV)
Retrovir March 19, 1987
Non-Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (NNRTIs)
NNRTIs bind to and later alter reverse transcriptase, an enzyme HIV needs to make copies of itself.
doravirine
(DOR) Pifeltro August 30, 2018
efavirenz
(EFV) Sustiva September 17, 1998
etravirine
(ETR) Intelence
January 18, 2008
nevirapine
(extended-release nevirapine, NVP) Viramune
June 21, 1996
Viramune XR (extended release)
March 25, 2011
rilpivirine
(rilpivirine hydrochloride, RPV)
