Glossary

ARV – a drug that works against a retrovirus, eg treatment for HIV. See: antiretroviral.

nuke – a common term for NRTI

T1/2 (half-life) –  the time taken a drug to clear from the highest concentration to half this level. Drugs have different half-lives in different compartments (ie half-life in blood can be different from the half-life inside a cell). It take 5 x the half-live for a drug to be considered cleared.

What happens when you take a drug?

BI – budding inhibitor. Class of HIV drug.

methadone – a man-made opiate that used to treat heroin addiction. See also buprenorphine.