Treatment of human immunodeficiency virus infections

Effective antiviral drugs are urgently needed to treat individuals who are infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Several compounds, such as nucleoside analogs (AZT, ddCyd), phosphonoformate, and HPA-23 inhibit reverse transcriptase. The mode of action of ribavirin and interferon alpha A is less clear. A number of compounds have been tested in early clinical trials, and AZT so far looks the most promising. New drugs should undergo rapid but thorough in vitro and animal testing. Promising compounds should be made available as soon as possible for phase I trials.