The picture of future therapy

Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) consisting of 2 nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) in combination with a protease inhibitor (PI) or a non nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) is now regarded as the standard of care in the treatment of HIV infection. However, over the next few years it is anticipated that clinician will become increasingly concerned with the quality of clinical data, the cost of treatment and virological failure. Several causes of virological failure have already been identified including compliance, toxicity, pharmacokinetic interactions, resistance and lack of potency. Many studies have been performed to investigate new combination regimens and new drugs to find solutions to these problems. In addition, new targets for antiviral drugs are also being investigated.