20 years of HIV treatment: past, present, and future.

Twenty years after the recognition of HIV and AIDS, no cure is in sight. Antiretroviral therapy is effective in delaying progression of HIV infection and AIDS, but the quality of life provided is only marginally better than the disease itself. To avoid therapeutic failures and viral resistance, medication adherence is critically important when patients are taking antiretroviral agents, but it is difficult to achieve. Pharmacists have a key role to play in managing adverse effects and drug interactions, providing adherence counseling, and monitoring regimens for needed therapeutic response and resistance tests.