Bevirimat is the first in class HIV maturation inhibitor. It acts by inhibiting the processing of the Gag capsid (CA)/spacer peptide 1 (SP1), which causes accumulation of CA/SP1 (p25) precursor proteins and blocks maturation of the viral core particle.
It also causes defective core condensation and releases the non-infectious virus particles from cells infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Thus, bevirimat blocks the spread of HIV infection to other cells.