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| Introduction | ||||
Roche are committed to improving the quality of life and treatment of people living with HIV/AIDS and have focused on adherence to treatment regimens as an important issue in HIV disease. With the introduction of combination therapies requiring strict treatment adherence to their regimens to ensure best outcomes it has become vital that individuals take their drugs as prescribed. Following prescription guidance is also important in treating other conditions and opportunistic infections. Failure to comply with drug regimens can in the case of anti-HIV medication lead to the development of resistance, reducing clinical response to the drug and, in some cases, reducing treatment options. Recent months have seen adherence, or compliance, to drug therapy become a major issue for all those interested in HIV/AIDS treatment; clinical experts, PWA-groups and innovative healthcare companies have been leading the ongoing discussion though little research or practical advice on adherence is currently available. To address this, Roche are implementing a programme of adherence activities to raise the awareness of the area, which will help to support and develop programmes to improve compliance to HIV therapy. As part of this programme Roche are sponsoring an international task force of individuals with the experience and expertise to look at the issues associated with compliance in HIV therapy. Leading physicians in HIV and drug compliance will make up the International Adherence Task Force (IATF), which will hold it’s first meeting in Hamburg during the Sixth European Conference on Clinical Aspects and Treatment of HIV-Infection (11-15 October 1997). The aim of the Task Force is to discuss the factors which influence adherence with the long term aim of identifying and then "field testing" some of the methods effective in improving treatment compliance for people prescribed HIV/AIDS therapy. The results of the IATF’s study will be published with a view to offering people with HIV/AIDS help in "sticking to" HIV therapy regimens. Roche-HIV.com will be reporting on the activities of the Task Force and other Roche adherence initiatives, so check this site for updates.
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