Zidovudines

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A class of antiviral medications used to treat HIV by inhibiting the reverse transcriptase enzyme
2. These compounds serve to slow the replication of the virus in the body
3. They are essential in combination therapies for managing HIV infection and improving patient outcomes

Etymology: Zidovudines are a class of antiretroviral drugs, and the plural form simply names more than one member of that family. The singular "zidovudine" is an alteration of "azidothymidine," a chemical name built from its structure: the "azido" group (containing three linked nitrogen atoms) attached to a "thymidine" nucleoside, the building block of the DNA base thymine. The name was shortened and reshaped into the friendlier form "zidovudine," which is the INN (international nonproprietary name) by which the drug is now known. The plural is the ordinary English one, applied to a pharmacological category rather than to separate words with independent histories. Because the drug was among the first developed against HIV, its name became a generic label for the whole group of related compounds, and in clinical writing "zidovudines" is used when discussing several such agents together.

Synonyms: azidothymidine, AZT, antiretroviral drugs