[New antiretroviral drugs. Improved pharmacokinetics and simpler dose schedules]

Despite of 18 licensed antiretroviral drugs in Germany, there is an increased pressure for development of new substances and new targets in the treatment of HIV positive patients. Multidrug resistance and poor pharmacokinetics are the biggest problems we have to fight with. But there is hope for resolving these challenges. Second generation drugs like FTC and DPC 083 with once a day dosage and a high resistance barrier are tested in clinical trials. In addition new classes of HIV drugs are available in phase III trials (T-20 fusion inhibitor). So the future will provide us with some new effective arms in the battle against HIV.