There are three big groups of ARV drugs, as listed below:

1. The NRTI drugs: this stands for 'Nucleoside and Nucleotide Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors' (divided into NsRTIs and NtRTIs).
2. The NNRTI drugs: this stands for 'Non-Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors'.
3. The PI drugs: this stands for 'Protease Inhibitors'.

Note that you don't need to know the complex mechanisms of action of these drugs. Likewise, you don't need to memorise the names of the drug groups.

The table below lists the most commonly used ARV drugs, arranged into the various groups, together with some rarely used drugs. But be aware that the table is not a complete list of all the ARV drugs; for example, it does not include all the rare drugs, or drugs that are not yet available in most resource-constrained settings.

You can use the table below as a reference in case a patient asks you about a specific drug, but remember to refer him or her to a higher health facility/hospital for more detailed advice than you can give at your health facility. The drugs listed in the first three columns of the table below are widely used, and we will say more about them later in this study session.

Commonly used antiretroviral drugs (with their common abbreviations).