antiretroviral

adjective

an·​ti·​re·​tro·​vi·​ral ˌan-tē-ˈre-trō-ˌvī-rəl 

ˌan-tī-

: acting, used, or effective against retroviruses

antiretroviral drugs

antiretroviral therapy

antiretroviral noun

Examples of antiretroviral in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Highly active antiretroviral therapy, introduced nearly thirty years ago, switched the paradigm for people infected with the virus. —Dave Wessner, Forbes, 1 Dec. 2024

PrEP medications contain antiretroviral drugs that interfere with this process. —Yaakov Katz, Newsweek, 27 Nov. 2024

Research suggests that the use of antiretroviral drugs and advances in managing HIV infections have helped make solid organ transplants in people with HIV safer and more efficacious. —Jacqueline Howard, CNN, 27 Nov. 2024

Achmat is best known for co-founding the Treatment Action Campaign in 1998, which successfully advocated to make antiretroviral drugs that carried high prices in wealthy countries affordable in Africa. —Byscience News Staff, science.org, 19 Sep. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1979, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

antiretroviral

1 of 2 adjective

an·​ti·​ret·​ro·​vi·​ral -ˈre-trō-ˌvī-rəl 

variants also anti-retroviral

: acting, used, or effective against retroviruses

All four drugs, which inhibit HIV protease and thus interfere with viral maturation and replication, are the most potent antiretroviral agents available to treat patients with HIV disease.

—The Journal of the American Medical Association

antiretroviral therapy

see highly active antiretroviral therapy

antiretroviral

2 of 2 noun

variants also anti-retroviral

: an agent effective against retroviruses

Current anti-HIV drugs, or antiretrovirals, bind to specific HIV enzymes and impede their activity.

—Douglas D. Richman, Scientific American