Antiretroviral treatments in 2012: improvements and future prospects

Chances of one-year survival to AIDS were only 41% in 1981. The availability of AZT in 1987 and mostly of the protease inhibitors in 1996 dramatically reduced the rate of deaths due to HIV. In 2013, six antiretroviral drug classes are available including more than 20 compounds. However, therapeutic progresses are still needed to improve tolerance and simplicity and also to evaluate new strategies, in particular for treatment simplification. In certain groups at risk, antiretroviral therapy as tool of prevention of transmission (Treatment as Prevention) now represents a treatment indication, beyond the individual benefit. In resource-limited countries, despite important progress obtained in access to antiretrovirals with a 30-fold increase since 2003 in the number of antiretroviral-treated patients, some issues prevent an optimised monitoring. Finally, cure is still an objective out of reach with current antiretroviral drugs that are limited to the inhibition of virus replication.