New HIV protease inhibitors for drug-resistant viruses

Several second-generation protease inhibitors have been developed over the last few years. These compounds have been used in preregistrative clinical trials or are currently in various Phases (I, II or III) of their progress towards use in HIV-1-infected patients. All drugs in this category have been designed in order to reach high plasma levels and possibly overcome the issue of cross-resistance among the compounds belonging to this class. Taking into account the rapid occurrence of protease inhibitor cross-resistance, clinicians who are treating patients living with HIV/AIDS will need new active protease inhibitors in the near future. These newly developed compounds will be the subject of our review.