Antiretroviral News and Research

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National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day: NIAID Director issues statement

Following is a statement of Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases National Institutes of Health on National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, March 20, 2010:

19 Mar 2010

Three scientists receive 2010 Discoverers Award for developing new class of HIV drug

Three scientists who led the 11-year quest to develop a groundbreaking HIV drug today received the 2010 Discoverers Award -- the highest honor given to scientists by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. The honorees are Tony Wood, Ph.D., Elna van der Ryst, M.D., Ph.D. and Manos Perros, Ph.D.

19 Mar 2010

Acne drug prevents HIV breakout

Johns Hopkins scientists have found that a safe and inexpensive antibiotic in use since the 1970s for treating acne effectively targets infected immune cells in which HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, lies dormant and prevents them from reactivating and replicating.

18 Mar 2010

Experts discuss PEPFAR funding in congressional hearing

At a recent hearing of the House Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health, "[i]nternational health organisations working to help check the spread of AIDS in Africa said meagre increases in funds from the U.S. government this year would be a step backwards. Some experts also emphasised that prevention must get appropriate attention in any fight against the disease," Inter Press Service reports.

15 Mar 2010

AIDS 2010 to highlight epidemic in Eastern Europe, Central Asia regions

AIDS 2010, the International AIDS Conference to be held July 18-23 in Vienna, Austria, will "highlight the situation in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, regions experiencing fast growing [HIV/AIDS] epidemics largely through unsafe injecting drug use," conference organizers announced Wednesday, Agence France-Presse reports.

11 Mar 2010

British government, HIV/AIDS advocates warn decreased aid budgets could lead to reversals in HIV/AIDS treatment progress

Recent gains in the global fight against HIV/AIDS could be reversed as the "global economic downturn pinches poor countries' budgets and donors show signs of backing away from their promise to provide universal access to AIDS treatment," the British government together with Medecins Sans Frontieres warned Tuesday, Reuters AlertNet reports.

11 Mar 2010

False positives in screening tests

In many jurisdictions, tests for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are required screening for pregnant women. Some even suggest screening the entire population for HIV. The rationale is to administer powerful antiretroviral drugs to healthy individuals to "prevent transmission."

10 Mar 2010

Global Fund releases latest impact data, projections for improving global health in next decade

By 2015, mother-to-child HIV transmission will be virtually eliminated and deaths from malaria and tuberculosis will continue to decline if health investments for the diseases are maintained or scaled up, according to an annual results report published Monday by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Agence France-Presse/Africasia.com reports (3/8).

9 Mar 2010

‘Testing Millions’ World AIDS Day campaign surpasses its goal by testing more than 4.2M people for HIV

Testing Millions,’ a groundbreaking global effort led by AIDS Healthcare Foundation to test millions of people for HIV as part of a global testing campaign tied to the recent observance of World AIDS Day (December 1st) has far surpassed its goal by testing more than 4.2 million people for HIV and identifying more than 110,106 HIV-positive individuals in 23 countries around the world.

5 Mar 2010

Argos Therapeutics' AGS-004 immunotherapy for HIV demonstrates clinical and commercial potential

Argos Therapeutics today announced the publication of a manuscript in the February edition of Clinical Immunology, detailing positive immune response, safety and manufacturing data for its AGS-004 immunotherapy for HIV. AGS-004 is a product of the Company’s Arcelis™ technology, and is a personalized, RNA-loaded dendritic cell-based immunotherapy that is perfectly matched to each patient’s unique HIV viral burden. The manuscript details a clinical study in which AGS-004 was evaluated in type-1 HIV-infected adults who were being treated with antiretroviral therapy (ART).

5 Mar 2010

Elsevier releases special issue to mark the 25th anniversary of antiretroviral drug development

Elsevier, the world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, released a special issue of the journal Antiviral Research (www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01663542), marking the 25th anniversary of antiretroviral drug development.

4 Mar 2010

Merck's Isentress HIV/AIDS drug pricing: CalSTRS and CalPERS express concern

Today AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) announced that the two largest public pension funds in the nation, the California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS) and the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), have sent letters to Merck and Co. Pharmaceuticals expressing concern over the company’s pricing for its key HIV/AIDS drug, Isentress—now the most expensive first-line AIDS treatment in the U.S.

2 Mar 2010

Study finds most HIV prevention, treatment, care efforts overlook IDUs

A systematic review of HIV prevention, treatment and care for injecting drug users (IDUs) throughout the world, published Monday in the journal Lancet, found that international efforts to fight the disease are largely overlooking this population, the Australian Associated Press/Sydney Morning Herald reports (Rose, 3/1).

2 Mar 2010

Antiretroviral therapy reduces mortality rates in patients co-infected with HIV and TB

Initiating antiretroviral therapy (ART) during tuberculosis therapy significantly reduced mortality rates by 56 percent in a randomized clinical trial of 642 patients co-infected with HIV and tuberculosis. The study, which provides further impetus for the integration of TB and HIV services, lays to rest the controversy on whether co-infected patients should initiate ART during or after TB treatment.

26 Feb 2010

α-defensins1-3 may be potential prophylactic agents in treatment of HIV / AIDS

HIV/AIDS remains one of the world's most significant public health challenges, particularly in developing countries. The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV-1), the variant responsible for the pandemic, has the ability to infect different cell types such as T cells, macrophages and dendritic cells (DC). These latter cells are crucial in the defense against infectious agents and play a major role in viral pathogenesis.

25 Feb 2010

Nevirapine taken to protect fetus from HIV should be avoided for one year after childbirth, say researchers

Women given the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention drug nevirapine to protect their fetus should not use an HIV-drug regimen that contains nevirapine for at least one year after childbirth, say researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

25 Feb 2010

FDA: Invirase-Norvir combination therapy for HIV may adversely affect the heart

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today announced preliminary data suggesting that Invirase (saquinavir) in combination with Norvir (ritonavir) may have potentially important adverse effects on the heart.

24 Feb 2010

Alliance Biosciences to provide engineering and biosafety guidance for Nyumbani's HIV/TB diagnostic facility

Alliance Biosciences reached an agreement with the Nyumbani Children's Home in Kenya to provide engineering and biosafety guidance to Nyumbani's planned HIV/TB diagnostic facility.

24 Feb 2010

ViiV Healthcare highlights S/GSK1349572, SELZENTRY and EPZICOM for HIV/AIDS at 17th CROI

At the 17th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI), ViiV Healthcare presented new data across its broad range of investigational and current medicines for the treatment of HIV/AIDS. Highlighted data at the conference included an oral presentation on the investigational integrase inhibitor, S/GSK1349572, as well as data presentations on SELZENTRY® (maraviroc) and EPZICOM® (abacavir/lamivudine).

24 Feb 2010

News outlets examine use of ART, microbicide development presented at conference

News outlets continue to report on the science discussed at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI), which ended Friday in San Francisco.

23 Feb 2010

Antiretroviral News and Research

National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day: NIAID Director issues statement

Three scientists receive 2010 Discoverers Award for developing new class of HIV drug

Acne drug prevents HIV breakout

Experts discuss PEPFAR funding in congressional hearing

AIDS 2010 to highlight epidemic in Eastern Europe, Central Asia regions

British government, HIV/AIDS advocates warn decreased aid budgets could lead to reversals in HIV/AIDS treatment progress

False positives in screening tests

Global Fund releases latest impact data, projections for improving global health in next decade

‘Testing Millions’ World AIDS Day campaign surpasses its goal by testing more than 4.2M people for HIV

Argos Therapeutics' AGS-004 immunotherapy for HIV demonstrates clinical and commercial potential

Elsevier releases special issue to mark the 25th anniversary of antiretroviral drug development

Merck's Isentress HIV/AIDS drug pricing: CalSTRS and CalPERS express concern

Study finds most HIV prevention, treatment, care efforts overlook IDUs

Antiretroviral therapy reduces mortality rates in patients co-infected with HIV and TB

α-defensins1-3 may be potential prophylactic agents in treatment of HIV / AIDS

Nevirapine taken to protect fetus from HIV should be avoided for one year after childbirth, say researchers

FDA: Invirase-Norvir combination therapy for HIV may adversely affect the heart

Alliance Biosciences to provide engineering and biosafety guidance for Nyumbani's HIV/TB diagnostic facility

ViiV Healthcare highlights S/GSK1349572, SELZENTRY and EPZICOM for HIV/AIDS at 17th CROI

News outlets examine use of ART, microbicide development presented at conference

Industry Focus eBook - Cell & Gene Therapy (1st Edition) eBook

Bringing real-time analytics to downstream bioprocess monitoring

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

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