Combination Therapy of AIDS

Erik De Clercq, M.D., PhD is currently President of the Rega Foundation, a member of the Belgian (Flemish) Royal Academy of Medicine and of the Academia Europaea, and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is an active Emeritus Professor of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (K.U.Leuven), Belgium. He is honorary doctor of the Universities of Ghent, Belgium, Athens, Greece, Ferrara, Italy, Jinan (Shandong), China, Charles (Prague), Czech Republic, and Jihoceska (Bude?jovice), Czech Republic. For his pioneering efforts in antiviral research, Professor De Clercq received in 1996 the Aventis award from the American Society for Microbiology, and in 2000 the Maisin Prize for Biomedical Sciences from the Belgian National Science Foundation. In 2008 he was elected Inventor of the Year by the European Union. Together with Dr. Anthony Fauci, Prof. De Clercq received the Dr. Paul Janssen Award for Biomedical Research in 2010. He is the (co)inventor of a number of antiviral drugs, used for the treatment of HSV (valaciclovir, Valtrex , Zelitrex ), VZV (brivudin, Zostex , Brivirac , Zerpex ), CMV (cidofovir, Vistide ), HBV (adefovir dipivoxil, Hepsera ), and HIV infections (AIDS) (tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, Viread ).

Anti-HIV agents to be used in drug combination regimens.- A perspective of the history of HAART.- The basic principles for combination therapy.- Comparison of the efficacy of HAART: single, dual or triple-class antiretroviral therapy.- Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of HAART.- Primary HIV infection: from diagnosis to treatment.- Salvage therapy.- Structured therapy interruptions (STIs): lessons from a therapeutic strategy.- Immune reconstitution in HIV infection.- Highly active antiretroviral treatment (HAART) of pediatric HIV-1 infection.- Causes of HIV treatment failure.- Economic implication of HIV-1 resistance testing in overall clinical care.- Guidelines for antiretroviral therapy.- Visions for the future of antiretroviral therapy.