There are reverse transcriptase inhibitors available as treatment; these drugs target the virus replication strategy by (as the name suggests) inhibiting reverse transcription.
In clinical trials patients taking raltegravir achieved viral loads less than 50 copies per millitre sooner than those taking similarly potent non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors or protease inhibitors.
Both lamivudine and zidovudine are reverse transcriptase inhibitors, which block the action of an enzyme, reverse transcriptase, that the virus requires for reproduction.