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from eMedTV.comIndinavir is part of a group of HIV medications known as protease inhibitors. These medicines work by blocking a process that HIV needs in order to multiply.
HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is the virus that causes AIDS. Like other viruses, HIV must use a person's own cells to reproduce. Once inside an infected cell, the HIV virus uses the cell to make DNA (to make new HIV viruses that can spread to other cells). The DNA is made in long strands that must be clipped into shorter, usable strands using enzymes called proteases.
Indinavir is a protease inhibitor, which means that it stops protease enzymes from clipping DNA into short strands. Since the long, unclipped DNA strands cannot be used to make new viruses, this helps stop the spread of HIV to other uninfected cells.
Indinavir is not a cure for HIV or AIDS. It can help stop HIV from infecting uninfected cells in the body, but it does not help cells that have already been infected with the virus.
Indinavir is not approved for treating HIV or AIDS in children. Talk with your child's healthcare provider about the benefits and risks of using indinavir in children.
On occasion, your healthcare provider may recommend indinavir for treating something other than HIV infection and AIDS. This is called an "off-label" use. At this time, indinavir is used off-label to prevent HIV infection in people exposed to the HIV virus (such as a healthcare worker who comes in contact with a contaminated needle stick). This is called postexposure prophylaxis (PEP).
Written by/reviewed by: Kristi Monson, PharmD; Arthur Schoenstadt, MD
Last reviewed by: Kristi Monson, PharmD