Also called non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors, non-nucleoside analogues or non-nukes. This class of anti-HIV drugs includes efavirenz, nevirapine and delavirdine (the latter is not licensed in the UK). These drugs are taken orally and act directly against HIV.
NNRTIs attack HIV at the same stage of its lifecycle as the nucleoside analogues: at the moment when it is transcribing its RNA into DNA to take over a CD4 cell. However, they have a different mechanism of attacking HIV. It is thought that they act directly against the chemical that converts the RNA into DNA.
