Abacavir is an anti-HIV drug that reduces the amount of virus in the body. Anti-HIV drugs such as abacavir slow down or prevent damage to the immune system and reduce the risk of developing AIDS-related illnesses.

Abacavir is one of the nucleoside analogue reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs). These drugs block an HIV enzyme called reverse transcriptase which is involved in making new viruses. For more information about how NRTIs work, see Reverse transcriptase inhibitors.

In July 1999, abacavir was approved by the European Union licensing body for use in combination with other anti-HIV drugs. The drug was licensed in the United States in December 1998. Once-daily abacavir was also approved in the European Union in November 2004.

Abacavir was previously known by the codename 1592U89 and has been registered under the tradename Ziagen. It is made by GlaxoSmithKline, the company that also produces AZT (zidovudine, Retrovir) and 3TC (lamivudine, Epivir).

The Indian pharmaceutical company Ranbaxy produces a generic version of abacavir called Virol. Genixpharma produces a similar version called Abavir and Aurobindo also makes a generic version that was granted tentative approval by the United States Food and Drug Administration in May 2006, making it available for purchase under the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)

A pill that combines 300mg abacavir, 150mg 3TC and 300mg AZT called Trizivir, is also available from GlaxoSmithKline. It was approved in the United States in November 2000 and in the European Union in March 2001.

GlaxoSmithKline also produces a fixed-dose combination of 600mg abacavir with 300mg 3TC, which is suitable for once-daily dosing. It is marketed as Kivexa in the European Union, where it was licensed in December 2004. The same combination tablet is called Epzicom in the United States, where it was approved for use in August 2004.