Polyoxometalate compounds which exhibit anti-retroviral activity are disclosed. Compounds with anti-retroviral activity include those having the following general molecular formulas: M7PW11O39 M8SiW11O39 M9HSiW9O34 M8HPW9O34 M10(TM)4(PW9O34)2 M16(TM)4(P2W15O56)2 M14[NaP5W30O110] M12(TM)3(PW9O34)2 M6P2W18O62 wherein M is an alkali metal, NH4+ or other common monocation or soluble dication, or any combination of the above provided adequate water solubility is exhibited, or histidinium ion, argininium ion, or lysinium ion or any dication of a dipeptide or oligopeptide with 2 protonated basic amino acid residues, or any combination of these monocations or dications with each other or with any common inorganic cation, and TM is a divalent transition metal ion, such as Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu and Zn.