The Rocky Road to Effective Treatment of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Infection

Excerpt

It has now been 7 years since the first clinical descriptions of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), 4 years since HIV-1 was established as its cause, and 2 years since zidovudine (azidothymidine, Retrovir) was shown to improve survival from advanced HIV-1 infection (1). Moreover, intensive investigation into the replicative mechanisms of HIV-1 has led to a veritable flood of new agents that inhibit viral replication in vitro and will require further clinical investigation (2, 3). With this flood of information has come a tidal wave of rising public expectations that threatens the ability to conduct controlled clinical trials. An understanding