Description: |
Nevirapine is a potent, non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) used in combination with nucleoside analogues for treatment of HIV-1 infection and AIDS.Nevirapine falls in the non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) class of antiretrovirals. Both nucleoside and non-nucleoside RTIs inhibit the same target, the reverse transcriptase enzyme, an essential viral enzyme which transcribes viral RNA into DNA. Nevirapine is not effective against HIV-2, as the pocket of the HIV-2 reverse transcriptase has a different structure, which confers intrinsic resistance to the NNRTI class. Resistance to nevirapine develops rapidly if viral replication is not completely suppressed. The most common mutations observed after nevirapine treatment are Y181C and K103N, which are also observed with other NNRTIs. |