I presume you are talking about the antiviral drugs..

Yes, they're treatments that have been tested extensively in many double-blind studies for safety and efficacy.

If you're having frequent outbreaks or want to reduce shedding to protect a partner, antiviral suppression may be of interest to you.

Acyclovir has been around for about 25 years so it has a very long and good track record. The newer drugs, valtrex and famvir are chemically similar in action, but are so far more expensive than the generic version of acyclovir.

These antivirals are very specifically targeted against the herpes virus family and work by interfering with a single chemical reaction that is part of the replication process of the virus. The lady who invented it got a Nobel Prize.

I'll pre-emptively point out that I'm not part of any pharmaceutical company nor do I receive any compensation in any form from them. I just know what works. I was helped by others when I was first infected and am returning the favor.