Investigational protease inhibitors as antiretroviral therapies.
INTRODUCTION
Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) has tremendously improved the life expectancy of the HIV-infected population over the past three decades. Protease inhibitors have been one of the major classes of drugs in HAART regimens that are effective in treating HIV. However, the emergence of resistance and cross-resistance against protease inhibitors encourages researchers to develop new PIs with broad-spectrum activity, as well as novel means of enhancing the efficacy of existing PIs.


AREAS COVERED
In this article we discuss recent advances in HIV protease inhibitor (PI) development, focusing on both investigational and experimental agents. We also include a section on pharmacokinetic booster drugs for improved bioavailability of protease inhibitors. Further, we discuss novel drug delivery systems using a variety of nanocarriers for the delivery of PIs across the blood-brain barrier to treat the HIV in the brain.


EXPERT OPINION
We discuss our opinion on the promises and challenges on the development of novel investigational and experimental PIs that are less toxic and more effective in combating drug-resistance. Further, we discuss the future of novel nanocarriers that have been developed to deliver PIs to the brain cells. Although these are promising findings, many challenges need to be overcome prior to making them a viable option.
['Midde|Narasimha M|NM|', 'Patters|Benjamin J|BJ|', 'Rao|Pss|P|', 'Cory|Theodore J|TJ|', 'Kumar|Santosh|S|']
D000818:Animals D023241:Antiretroviral Therapy, Highly Active D001682:Biological Availability D001812:Blood-Brain Barrier D016503:Drug Delivery Systems D015195:Drug Design D024882:Drug Resistance, Viral D015507:Drugs, Investigational D015658:HIV Infections D017320:HIV Protease Inhibitors D006801:Humans
Protease inhibitors antiretroviral therapy HIV drug delivery nanocarriers pharmacoenhancers