JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2003:
Depending on whether you see the glass as half-full or half-empty, 2002 was either a promising or a disappointing year for antiretroviral therapy, wrote then-PA editor Charles E. Clifton in the seventh annual HIV Drug Guide in the January/February 2003 issue.
The guide featured 19 drugs in three basic drug classes. Today, there are 37 drugs in five classes, but the lines between classes are increasingly being blurred with the development of new types of treatments that combine drugs that fight HIV along multiple fronts.
Among the experimental drugs that looked promising were T-20, FTC, 908, and atazanavir—known today respectively as Fuzeon, Emtriva, Lexiva, and Reyataz.
In the news briefs section of the issue, Enid Vázquez reported on an expanded access program for atanazavir for those who were failing their regimen and had no other treatment options. —RICK GUASCO