Current Treatment Options
Antiretroviral therapy (ART) has been effective at controlling
HIV disease but is not curative and has to be taken life-long. It
requires continuous compliance and is expensive (~20,000 USD/year).
There are material problems with the occurrence of drug-resistant
HIV strains and toxic side effects. The introduction of new drugs
and classes with decreased toxicity has led to significant
decreases in HIV-related morbidity and mortality in areas where ART
is available. However, if the WHO criteria for initiation of ART
are utilized, there are over 11.7 million people world-wide that
are not receiving ART when it is indicated. There are
currently more than 20 new anti-HIV drugs in clinical
development.
Although it has been 25 years since HIV was identified, there
are currently no registered HIV vaccines or other treatments that
can cure HIV or AIDS. However, progress has been made in developing
therapies to slow the progression of the disease in the form of
HAART therapy. The purpose of this therapy is to prevent the growth
of HIV by reducing the virus concentration to a very low or
non-measurable level. HAART is an effective treatment regime, but
an increasing number of patients develop resistance to one or more
of the substances included in HAART. In addition, HAART cannot
completely eradicate HIV from the body and is associated with many
serious side effects.
