Ongoing trials in HIV protease inhibitors

The development of antiretrovirals has led to a revolution in the care of patients infected with HIV. What was once a uniformly fatal syndrome has become a more treatable, chronic, infectious disease. Central to this revolution have been the protease inhibitors, a class of drugs with potent antiretroviral activity. The first member of this class was approved for use in 1995 and there are now five protease inhibitors approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA): amprenavir, indinavir, nelfinavir, ritonavir and saquinavir. As a result of the magnitude of the HIV pandemic coupled with the clinically proven efficacy of protease inhibitors, there are currently hundreds of ongoing clinical trials with these agents. Trial designs include comparisons between the various licensed protease inhibitors, comparisons of protease inhibitors to other classes of potent antiretroviral drugs, investigations with new protease inhibitors, investigations of protease inhibitor-related toxicities and attempts at simplifying current dosing regimens.