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CROI 2015: Antiretroviral Therapy -- Past, Present and Future [VIDEO]

Antiretroviral therapy (ART) has undergone a remarkable evolution from AZT monotherapy in the late 1980s, to effective combination therapy in the mid-1990s, to today's well-tolerated single-tablet regimens. But questions about the optimal time to start treatment remain unanswered and getting ART to everyone who needs it is still a challenge, according to a presentation by David Cooper at the recent 2015 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in Seattle.

[David Cooper, CROI, February 23, 2015]

Cooper, from the Kirby Institute at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, gave the annual CROI N'Galy-Mann Lecture, named after HIV/AIDS pioneers Bosenge N’Galy (first head of the Zairean National AIDS Program) and Jonathan Mann (first head of the WHO Global Program on AIDS). Cooper described the evolution of HIV treatment, optimizing therapy with current drugs, issues that remain unsolved, and barriers to universal access. Preceding the lecture, he gave a summary at a CROI press conference.

There are 13.6 million people worldwide receiving antiretroviral therapy, but there are still millions more who need it and do not currently have access, Cooper said. "It's hard to see how current flat levels of funding can allow for a doubling of people on ART -- that is unacceptable and we need to finish the job."

3/9/15

Reference

D Cooper. Antiretroviral Therapy: Past, Present, and Future. 2015 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections. Seattle, February 23-24, 2015. N’Galy-Mann Lecture. Presentation 19.