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'Combivir' is the brand name for a pharmaceutical treatment for HIV infection. It is a fixed dose combination of two antiretroviral drugs, lamivudine (also called 3TC, with the brand name Epivir) and zidovudine (also called AZT, with the brand name Retrovir ). The combination of the two drugs has a stronger effect than either drug alone.
Both lamivudine and zidovudine are reverse transcriptase inhibitors, which block the action of an enzyme, reverse transcriptase, that the virus requires for reproduction. It reduces the viral load in the body and raises CD4 cell count.
It was approved by the FDA on September 26, 1997, making it the thirteenth approved antiretroviral. It is marketed by GlaxoSmithKline.