Atazanavir

Atazanavir, widely known as ATZ, and also called ATV and formerly called BMS-232632, is an antiretroviral protease inhibitor (PI) used to treat HIV/AIDS. Unlike most protease inhibitors, atazanavir can be given once a day and hence has fewer effects on patient lipid profiles. Like most protease inhibitors, it is used in combination with other HIV medications. It is sold under the brand names Latazanavir®, Reyataz® and Zrivada®. It inhibits the proteolytic cleavage of the viral polyprotein precursors (Gag and Gag-Pol) so that the individual active proteins of HIV cannot be made, thus stopping the formation of mature, infectious viral particles. This and other protease inhibitors are almost always used in combination with at least two other anti-HIV drugs.

Its IUPAC chemical name is methyl N-[(2S)-1-[[(2S,3S)-3-hydroxy-4-[[[(2S)-2-(methoxycarbonylamino)- 3,3-dimethylbutanoyl]amino]-[(4-pyridin-2-ylphenyl)methyl]amino]-1-phenylbutan-2-yl]amino]-3,3-dimethyl-1-oxobutan-2-yl]carbamate, and its chemical formula is C₃₈H₅₂N₆O₇.

External Links

• Atazanavir - FDA approved drug information (drug label) from DailyMed (U.S. National Library of Medicine).
• Drug Bank at http://www.drugbank.ca/cgi-bin/getCard.cgi?CARD=DB01072.txt