They interrupt the way HIV uses a healthy cell to make more virus. When HIV enters a healthy cell, its only goal is to make more viruses to infect other healthy cells. It does this by making the cell produce certain proteins the virus can use to copy itself. Two of the proteins used by the virus are reverse transcriptase and protease. The goal of the protease inhibitor is to stop the protease from helping to assemble a new virus.
Protease inhibitors are the most powerful anti-HIV drugs available so far.
Researchers are not sure how long protease inhibitors will work in a person infected with HIV, but they have seen promising results in studies. They are hopeful that people will live longer, healthier lives because of the benefits of these new drugs. Protease inhibitors are not called a cure because researchers do not yet know how well they will work in different people. Some people have had their viral load drop to a level that is too low for current tests to measure. Even though the virus cannot be found in their blood, doctors believe HIV is still in their bodies and that it would reproduce quickly if they stop taking the protease inhibitor.