Current HIV meds—protease inhibitors, nucleoside/nucleotide and non-nucleoside transcriptase inhibitors, fusion inhibitors, entry inhibitors and integrase inhibitors—disrupt various points in HIV’s replication process. A new type of drug—the maturation inhibitor Vivecon (MPC-9055)—has entered Phase II clinical trials. Maturation inhibitors interrupt HIV’s final reproductive step, when the viral particle leaves the host immune cell and prepares to infect others. Bevirimat (PA-450), another maturation inhibitor candidate, is on the move as well. A twice-daily tablet version of the drug is in Phase II trials.

Click here for a list of approved and experimental HIV medications.