About HIV

An estimated 38.6 million [33.4 million–46.0 million] people world­wide were living with HIV at the end of 2005. An estimated 4.1 million [3.4 million–6.2 million] became newly infected with HIV and an estimated 2.8 million [2.4 million–3.3 million] lost their lives to AIDS. Overall, the HIV incidence rate (the proportion of people who have become infected with HIV) is believed to have peaked in the late 1990s and to have stabilized subsequently, notwithstanding increasing incidence in several countries.

Transmission

HIV is most commonly spread by having unprotected sex with and infected partner.¹ Infection may also occur after exposure to infected blood, sharing of drug needles or syringes, other sexual contact with an infected person, sexual contact with someone whose HIV status is unknown, or from mother to child during pregnancy or birth.¹ Studies have shown that HIV is not spread through casual contact such as sharing food utensils, towels and bedding, swimming pools or telephones.¹ 

Prevention¹

The best way to prevent the transmission of HIV is to refrain from risky behavior such as:

• Sharing drug needles or syringes
• Having sexual contact with an infected person without the proper protection
• Coming into contact with the blood of an infected person

Treatment¹

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved several drugs for the treatment of HIV. These antiretroviral agents belong to four classes and form the basis of combination therapy regimens containing at least three drugs. These four classes include the nucleoside/nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTI), nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTI), protease inhibitors (PI), and fusion inhibitors (FI).

HIV therapy has evolved over the years to include drugs from each of these classes for treatment. This type of therapy, where multiple drugs (three or more) are used in combination, is referred to as highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART).

Although great progress has been made over the years in the management of HIV, Idenix believes that significant opportunities remain for agents that can address the remaining limitations of currently approved therapies.

1 National Institute of Health. NIAID Fact Sheet. March 2005