Integrase inhibitors as a new class of ARV treatment

Retroviral enzyme integrase is absolutely indispensable to HIV-1 replication by catalysing proviral HIV DNA integration into host genome. Its inhibition becomes a new therapeutic target for antiretroviral therapy. For ten last years many integrase inhibitors molecules have been discovered. The most promising are raltegravir (RAL) and elvitegravir (EVG). Raltegravir (Isentress®) is the first oral integrase inhibitor which received FDA and EMEA approval, respectively in October and December 2007. This ARV drug is indicated in treatment-experienced adult HIV-1 infected patients with multidrug resistances, who have already been exposed to simply three ARV classes.