Antiretroviral protease inhibitors

Patent Granted Protease inhibitors were the second class of antiretroviral drugs developed. The first members of this class, saquinavir (Hoffman-La Roche) and ritonovir (Abbott), were approved in late 1995-1996. Within 2 years, annual deaths from AIDS in the United States fell from over 50,000 to approximately 18,000 [2] Prior to this the annual death rate had been increasing by approximately 20% each year.