Drug Delivery Strategies and Systems for HIV/AIDS Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) and Treatment
Nelson AG, Zhang X, Ganapathi U, Szekely Z, Flexner CW, Owen A, Sinko PJ. Drug delivery strategies and systems for HIV/AIDS pre-exposure prophylaxis and treatment. J Control Release. 2015 Dec 10;219:669-680. doi: 10.1016/j.jconrel.2015.08.042. Epub 2015 Aug 24. PMID: 26315816; PMCID: PMC4879940.
The year 2016 will mark an important milestone - the 35th anniversary of the first reported cases of HIV/AIDS. Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) drug regimens are widely considered to be one of the greatest achievements in therapeutic drug research. In fact, ART has transformed healthcare for HIV-infected people from a terminal illness where patients quickly progress from HIV infection to AIDS and serious opportunistic infections to today, where HIV infection is widely regarded as a chronic disease. Unfortunately, the discontinuation of ART or the development of drug resistance results in rapid viral rebound. The lack of widespread successful preventive measures and the inability to eradicate HIV from infected cells highlight the significant healthcare challenges and DD opportunities that remain today.