The past 2 years have seen a dramatic improvement in the prognosis for people with HIV infection owing to the success of a strategy of using a combination of antiretroviral drugs to bring about a profound and durable suppression of viral replication. The drugs currently available all work through inhibiting key HIV specific enzymes—reverse transcriptase and HIV protease. The use of a three drug cocktail, usually consisting of two reverse transcriptase inhibitors (RTI) and one protease inhibitor (PI), has shown itself to be superior to single1 and dual2 3 drug therapy in terms of the degree of viral suppression and also the ability to stall the development of resistance.4-7

HIV damages the immune system primarily by promoting the destruction of CD4 T lymphocytes, and this leaves the individual vulnerable to a greater number of infections as the cell numbers decline. Following the instigation of triple combination, highly active antiretroviral therapy, often …