The US FDA has approved marketing of several generic versions of HIV drugs in US including zidovudine tablets manufactured by Ranbaxy Laboratories, zidovudine tablets and oral solution manufactured by Aurobindo Pharma LTD and zidovudine tablets manufactured by Roxane Laboratories of Columbus, Ohio. These are the first generic versions of the already-approved Retrovir brand manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline.

Previously, the products had been only tentatively approved and were not available in the United States because patent or market exclusivity blocked their approval.

Zidovudine is in the class of drugs called nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs), which help keep the AIDS virus from reproducing. This antiretroviral drug is intended to be used with other antiretroviral agents for the treatment of HIV infection.