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There is also considerable effort now being placed on investigating
and developing new drugs that interfere with the initial interaction
of HIV with a host cell, that is, they interfere with or stop the
attachment of HIV to the host cell, a process that must occur for
HIV infection to take place.
HIV bound and beginning to fuse with a host cell
Copyright (c) Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH
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In this way HIV can be stopped before infection of, or binding
to, a host cells occurs. Drugs of this type would have to be administered
to the site where HIV comes into contact with and is able to infect
host cells. In practical terms this means using these drugs in the
vagina or rectum, the two key areas for sexually transmitted HIV.
Drugs that are designed to stop HIV infection in the vagina and
rectum are called microbicides and for more information on this
topic see the Microbicides section.
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Although there are a number of drugs currently in development
and undergoing clinical testing, there are ongoing challenges in
getting new anti-HIV drugs to the market. These include (not in
any order of importance) the following:
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Rigorous selection of candidate drugs for ongoing development
to ensure that the best drug candidates go forward for clinical
testing given the significant time and cost involved in clinical
trials
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Ensuring sufficient funding to progress candidate drugs through
clinical testing
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The feminisation of HIV i.e. the facts that increasing numbers
of women are becoming infected and that women in developing
countries are at a higher risk of infection means that there
is a need to focus on therapies that can be used vaginally and
rectally to stop HIV infection occurring (see section on Microbicides
for more information on this topic)
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Developing drugs that are active against sexually transmitted
infections (STI's) as well as HIV
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