At the scientific sessions at this conference, we have learned about promising new therapies. Yet all of this investment and all of these findings will be for naught if people do not adhere to or comply with therapy. The first is a gap between the treatment regimens as they are prescribed, and the people who want to avail themselves of these treatments but also want to have a life. The second is a gap between the developing and the developed worlds. One might say it is a luxury that those in the developed world can worry about timing medications with meals or drinking enough water.
Adherence is a problem throughout the different areas of medicine and throughout the world.
It became a focus in HIV therapy two years ago, when combination anti-HIV therapy including protease inhibitors was introduced. If adhered to, these therapies are remarkably effective for many people. There has been a striking decline in AIDS cases and AIDS deaths in the developed world coinciding with these new treatments. No sooner had successful results of protease inhibitor therapy been reported, than we became aware that treatment breakthroughs or treatment failures represented a real problem. All had been on combination therapy for more than 24 weeks.