Abstract

AIDS: The XI International Conference on AIDS, held on July 7-12, 1996, brought to light new reports of promising treatment advances, as well as the need to use caution with the new treatment approaches. Highlights from the Vancouver conference include impressive data on protease inhibitors used in combination with other drugs, and the widespread consensus that viral load is important for monitoring individual patients. Early trials of multi-drug combinations have suggested that for many patients, it is now possible to suppress viral replication to undetectable levels. However, if the treatment is interrupted, drug resistance may develop. Obstacles to these new treatments include patient compliance with physician instructions and costs of the new drugs and drug combinations. Also, much of the clinical data is from patients with early stage HIV disease and little or no prior treatment--often the easiest to treat.