ABSTRACT
In westernized countries, the field of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) medicine has been revolutionized by the widespread use of drugs that suppress viral replication such that the management of HIV infection can no longer be regarded as palliation of an inevitably terminal condition, as was the case at the advent of the epidemic in the 1980s, but rather involves the care of a chronic illness of currently indeterminate prognosis. The first agent to demonstrate antiretroviral activity, azidothymidine [(AZT), zidovudine], was licensed in 1987 after only 20 months in phase 3 trials; such was the demand for a therapeutic tool to combat this growing problem, and since that time, a wealth of research has been directed at expanding the armory, defining new therapeutic targets, and optimizing deployment of the agents currently available.
