Nelfinavir is a viral protease inhibitor used in the treatment of HIV infection. It is used in combination with other antiviral drugs in the treatment of HIV in both adults and children.
- Mechanism
- Curator reviewed · 7 references
HIV viral protease is an important enzyme for HIV maturation and pathogenicity since HIV produces its structural and key proteins in the form of a polyprotein that needs to be cleaved by a protease. HIV protease is synthesized as part of the Gag-pol polyprotein, where Gag encodes for the capsid and matrix protein to form the outer protein shell, and Pol encodes for the reverse transcriptase and integrase protein to synthesize and incorporate its genome into host cells. The Gag-pol polyprotein undergoes proteolytic cleavage by HIV protease to produce 66 molecular species which will assume conformational changes to become fully active. Inhibition of protease, therefore, prevents HIV virion from fully maturing and becoming infective.
Nelfinavir is a competitive inhibitor of the HIV protease by reversibly binding to the active site of the enzyme, preventing it from interacting with its substrate to produce mature and infectious viral particles.
- Primary indication
- Used in combination with other antiviral drugs in the treatment of HIV in both adults and children.Curator reviewed · 1 structured indication
- Formula / weight
- C32H45N3O4S · 567.782 g/mol (avg)
- First approval
- Canada, 2003 · United States, 1997
- Code names
- AG1343
- Brand names
Resolves to
QAGYKUNXZHXKMR-HKWSIXNMSA-NSMILES[H][C@@]12CCCC[C@]1([H])CN(C[C@@H](O)[C@H](CSC1=CC=CC=C1)NC(=O)C1=C(C)C(O)=CC=C1)[C@@H](C2)C(=O)NC(C)(C)CWhat you can answer from here — as of September 30, 2026
Which drugs share a target with Nelfinavir, and which of those have an active Phase 3 trial?
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