By the year 2000 it is estimated that more than 20 million people worldwide will be infected with HIV. Despite many research-related problems, pharmaceutical companies and academic researchers are channelling their efforts into developing new anti-HIV compounds. As outlined by presentations at AIMECS 95 [AFMC International Medicinal Chemistry Symposium; Tokyo, Japan; September 1995] researchers are concentrating on 2 key enzymes in the life-cycle of HIV, namely reverse transcriptase (RT) and HIV protease.