Rilpivirine is a pharmaceutical drug, developed by Tibotec

Tibotec

Tibotec is a pharmaceutical company with a focus on research and development for the treatment of infectious diseases such as HIV , and Hepatitis C...

, for the treatment of HIV

HIV

Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...

 infection. It is a second-generation non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) with higher potency

Potency (pharmacology)

In the field of pharmacology, potency is a measure of drug activity expressed in terms of the amount required to produce an effect of given intensity. A highly potent drug evokes a larger response at low concentrations, while a drug of lower potency evokes a small response at low concentrations...

, longer half-life

Biological half-life

The biological half-life or elimination half-life of a substance is the time it takes for a substance to lose half of its pharmacologic, physiologic, or radiologic activity, as per the MeSH definition...

 and reduced side-effect profile

Adverse drug reaction

An adverse drug reaction is an expression that describes harm associated with the use of given medications at a normal dosage. ADRs may occur following a single dose or prolonged administration of a drug or result from the combination of two or more drugs...

 compared with older NNRTIs, such as efavirenz

Efavirenz

Efavirenz is a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor and is used as part of highly active antiretroviral therapy for the treatment of a human immunodeficiency virus type 1....

.

Rilpivirine entered phase III clinical trials in April 2008, and was approved for use in the United States in May 2011. A fixed-dose drug combining rilpivirine with emtricitabine

Emtricitabine

Emtricitabine , with trade name Emtriva , is a nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor for the treatment of HIV infection in adults and children....

 and tenofovir, was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in August 2011 under the brand name Complera.

Like etravirine

Etravirine

Etravirine is a drug used for the treatment of HIV. Etravirine is a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor . Unlike the currently available agents in the class, resistance to other NNRTIs does not seem to confer resistance to etravirine. Etravirine is marketed by Tibotec, a subsidiary...

, a second-generation NNRTI approved in 2008, rilpivirine is a diarylpyrimidine (DAPY).