This issue is focuses on reports form the XVI International AIDS Conference held in Toronto in August.

It is 10 years since the conference was last held in Canada – then in Vancouver, and heralding the first data on PI-based combination therapy. The revolutionary nature of those studies, may turn out to be matched by early data on Merck integrase inhibitor – a new compound in a new class – which now has to pass broader safety testing but which probably generated most excitement at the conference.

A named-patient programme for MK-0518 is due to start in the UK in the next month.

Broader issues, of course, included many sessions looking at roll out programmes, and access to treatment for the majority of HIV-positive people, who are still mainly living in countries where there are few drugs.

Further coverage of the conference will follow in the next issue, together with coverage of the Lipodystrophy Workshop being held at the end of this month.