Tables and diagrams

We’ve collected key tables and diagrams in the guide here for ease of reference.

When not on treatment, your immune system works in overdrive

CD4 increases on ART

Drug levels with good adherence

Drug doses are calculated so that average drug levels are high enough to be active against HIV for 24 hours a day. They are also low enough to minimise the risk of side effects.

A missed or late dose increases the risk of resistance

Missing or being late with a drug lets the drug levels fall to a level where resistance can develop. The more often you are late, the greater the chance of resistance.

The main types of hiv drugs

Abbreviation	Full name(s)
NRTIs/NtRTIs (“nukes”)	Nucleoside/tide reverse transcriptase inhibitors or nucleoside/tide analogues
NNRTIs (“non-nukes”)	Non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors
PIs	Protease inhibitors
INIs (or INSTIs)	Integrase (strand transfer) inhibitors
CCR5 inhibitors	CCR5 inhibitors are a type of entry inhibitor
Fusion inhibitors	Fusion inhibitors are a type of entry inhibitor

Abbreviation

Full name(s)

NRTIs/NtRTIs (“nukes”)

Nucleoside/tide reverse transcriptase inhibitors or nucleoside/tide analogues

NNRTIs (“non-nukes”)

Non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors

PIs

Protease inhibitors

INIs (or INSTIs)

Integrase (strand transfer) inhibitors

CCR5 inhibitors

CCR5 inhibitors are a type of entry inhibitor

Fusion inhibitors

Fusion inhibitors are a type of entry inhibitor

HIV lifecycle – how drugs work in different ways

If a CD4 cell is infected by HIV, this cell is used to produce hundreds of new copies of HIV. Different drugs block different parts of this HIV life cycle.

First combination meds

Table 2: Summary recommendations for choice of ART in the UK
	PREFERRED	ALTERNATIVE*
Two nukes	tenofovir + emtricitabine (Truvada)	abacavir + lamivudine (Kivexa) **
Plus a third component	atazanavir – boosted PI or darunavir – boosted PI or dolutegravir – integrase inhibitor or elvitegravir – boosted integrase inhibitor or raltegravir – integrase inhibitor or rilpivirine – NNRTI *	efavirenz (NNRTI) ***

Table 2: Summary recommendations for choice of ART in the UK

PREFERRED

ALTERNATIVE*

Two nukes

tenofovir + emtricitabine (Truvada)

abacavir + lamivudine (Kivexa) **

Plus a third component

atazanavir – boosted PI or
darunavir – boosted PI  or
dolutegravir – integrase inhibitor  or
elvitegravir – boosted integrase inhibitor or
raltegravir – integrase inhibitor  or
rilpivirine – NNRTI *

efavirenz (NNRTI) ***

* Drugs that can only be used in some situations. Rilpivirine can only be used when viral load is less than 100,000 copies/mL. Abacavir can only be used if the HLA B-5701 test is negative.

** abacavir + lamivudine (Kivexa) can be used at any viral load when used with dolutegravir. Otherwise, Kivexa can only be used when viral load is less than 100,000 copies/mL

*** Although efavirenz is no longer a prefered drug, it might still be offered in some clinics.