What HIV drugs will I take?

ART is usually a combination (or regimen) that includes:

• Two HIV drugs from a family called NRTIs. This stand for nucleoside or nucleotide reverse-transcriptase inhibitor.
• A third drug from a different HIV drug class. This will be an integrase inhibitor,  NNRTI (a non-nucleoside reverse- transcriptase inhibitor), or a boosted protease inhibitor (PI).

The NRTIs are most likely to be tenofovir and emtricitabine (FTC). 

The third drug is likely to be:

• efavirenz or rilpivirine (an NNRTI),
• dolutegravir or raltegravir (an integrase inhibitor) or
• atazanavir or darunavir boosted with ritonavir (a boosted-PI).

UK guidelines recommend efavirenz or boosted atazanavir.

There is always limited information about safety on some of the newer HIV drugs.

Some drugs, combinations or schedules are not recommended in pregnancy. But these are rarely used in the UK.

All pregnant women diagnosed during pregnancy should start lifelong ART.

Last updated: 1 November 2023.