Posted on July 9th, 2009 No comments From where we are at the
moment in our understanding of HIV disease, we have to accept
that lifelong treatment will be required for most infected
individuals.. The drugs are not free from undesirable effects,
they are costly and for many, quality of life is impaired to a
greater or lesser extent by taking medications, even a single
pill, day after day. For these reasons it is important to study
ways to safely minimize exposure to these necessary drugs. We
have potent tools to fight HIV disease but we still do not know
how best to use them to achieve the most favourable antiviral
effect, while minimizing toxicity and undesirable effects. One
approach to these objectives – at the moment, perhaps the only
viable approach is the study of intermittent therapy as a means
to safely reduce exposure to drugs. This approach will almost
definitely not be possible for all HIV infected people needing
treatment. But it may well be possible for most. The cost
savings with intermittent th