Health Dictionary
Reliable, easy-to-read patient information on common medical conditions — written in plain language, free of jargon, and grounded in current evidence. Browse the most frequent diagnoses, understand what they mean for everyday life, and learn which steps and questions help you have a focused conversation with your doctor.
Entry inhibitors
Introduction
Entry inhibitors are very much similar to Fusion inhibitors. Entry inhibitors are a class of antiretroviral drugs, commonly used in combination therapy in order to treat HIV infection. This class of drugs prevents HIV from binding to gp120 receptor by binding to it itself. This ultimately prevents HIV from binding to the co-receptor, gp41, and from it entering the cell. Entry and fusion inhibitors work differently than the other antiretroviral drugs (reverse transcriptase inhibitors, integrase inhibitors, and protease inhibitors) because these inhibitors work outside of the cell and prevent HIV from entering the host cell in the first place.
The only FDA-approved entry inhibitor is Maraviroc.