Antiretroviral News and Research

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AIDS experts develop first accurate computer simulation to explain drug effects

Pooling data from thousands of tests of the antiviral activity of more than 20 commonly used anti-HIV drugs, AIDS experts at Johns Hopkins and Harvard universities have developed what they say is the first accurate computer simulation to explain drug effects. Already, the model clarifies how and why some treatment regimens fail in some patients who lack evidence of drug resistance.

3 Sep 2012

Brazil expanding national HIV treatment program to include patients with higher CD4 cell counts

Brazil is expanding its national HIV/AIDS treatment program to include about 35,000 additional people, the Associated Press/Seattle Times reports. "Ronaldo Hallal of the health ministry's Sexually Transmitted Disease Department said people with 500 or fewer CD4 cells per cubic millimeter will receive antiretroviral HIV treatment," increasing the cutoff from 350 or less CD4 cells per cubic millimeter prior to the expansion, the news service writes.

31 Aug 2012

India's contribution to global health R&D needs domestic, international support

As the BRIC countries -- Brazil, Russia, India, and China -- invest more in innovations in health technologies and other areas, "many are looking to these countries to correct the global health research and development (R&D) imbalance that leaves the poor without needed products such as an improved tuberculosis (TB) vaccine or tests to help diagnose patients in remote rural settings," David de Ferranti, president of Results for Development Institute (R4D), writes in the Huffington Post Blog.

30 Aug 2012

FDA approves Gilead’s Stribild to treat HIV-1 infection

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Stribild (elvitegravir, cobicistat, emtricitabine, tenofovir disoproxil fumarate), a new once-a-day combination pill to treat HIV-1 infection in adults who have never been treated for HIV infection.

28 Aug 2012

Gilead Sciences receives FDA approval for Stribild to treat HIV-1 infection

Gilead Sciences, Inc. announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Stribild (elvitegravir 150 mg/cobicistat 150 mg/emtricitabine 200 mg/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate 300 mg), a complete once-daily single tablet regimen for HIV-1 infection for treatment-naïve adults.

28 Aug 2012

Dominican Republic establishes commission to examine implications of including ART in country health plan

"The Dominican Republic is one step closer to ensuring that all people living with HIV access treatment," UNAIDS reports in an article on its webpage, adding, "The country's National Social Security Council has established a commission to look into the technical, financial and operational implications of including antiretroviral therapy (ART) in the Basic Health Plan."

26 Aug 2012

Religion not a barrier to HIV testing, treatment, study finds

"Preachers who promise divine healing have often been blamed for turning desperate HIV-positive people against their life-prolonging antiretroviral (ARV) medication and risking their health, but recent research suggests that religious beliefs may not be a barrier to treatment after all," IRIN/Plus News reports.

24 Aug 2012

Mylan, Pfizer partner to develop and market generic drugs in Japan

Pfizer Inc. and Mylan Inc. today announced that they have signed a definitive agreement to establish an exclusive long-term strategic collaboration to develop, manufacture, distribute and market generic drugs in Japan. The collaboration is designed to build upon each company's highly complementary strengths and quality assets.

23 Aug 2012

HIV-related stigma keeps Kenyan pregnant women from having babies in health-care facilities

The fear of being labeled HIV-positive is strong enough to keep mothers in one Kenyan province from having babies in health-care facilities, according to a study published online today in the journal PLOS Medicine. Communities there have come to see clinics and skilled care as mostly for HIV-positive women.

22 Aug 2012

Blog examines use of controversial HIV drug in Malawi

This post in the Center for Global Health Policy's "Science Speaks" blog examines the use of stavudine, "also known as d4T, an antiretroviral treatment that was dropped in wealthy countries years ago and that the World Health Organization has recommended stop being included in treatment programs," to treat HIV in Malawi.

17 Aug 2012

Achieving AIDS-free generation worth more than Olympic gold

In this post in Huffington Post's "Healthy Living" blog, John-Manuel Andriote, a journalist and author living with HIV, asks, "For all of us living with HIV infection -- Oct. 27 will mark seven years since my own diagnosis -- the question we face daily, hopefully more consciously and deliberately than most, is how shall we live, knowing as we do that we will most assuredly die one day?"

16 Aug 2012

Human milk oligosaccharides may reduce risk of mother-to-child HIV transmission

An international team of researchers has found that certain bioactive components found in human milk are associated with a reduced risk of HIV transmission from an HIV infected mother to her breast-fed infant. Their study will be published in the August 15 online edition of American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

16 Aug 2012

Nurse-led HIV care benefits patients

Expansion of the role of primary care nurses to allow them to initiate and represcribe antiretroviral therapy to HIV patients improves health outcomes and quality of patient care, write researchers in The Lancet.

15 Aug 2012

CBIS initiates CS-TATI-1 GMP development plan

Cannabis Science (CBIS), a pioneering U.S. Biotech Company developing pharmaceutical to meet global public health challenges is pleased to announce the initiation of GMP development plan for CS-TATI-1 with the initial production of CS-TATI-1 to be performed in Colorado under C-GMP conditions evaluated by the FDA for initial human studies to treat HIV associated Kaposi Sarcoma.

13 Aug 2012

Study assesses gender differences in the efficacy of antiretroviral treatment

Women comprise nearly half of the HIV-infected population worldwide, but these 15.5 million women tend to be under-represented in clinical trials of anti-HIV drug therapies. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has created a database from 40 clinical studies to assess gender differences in the efficacy of antiretroviral treatments.

12 Aug 2012

FDA approves Mylan's ANDA for generic Provigil

Mylan Inc. today announced that its subsidiary Mylan Pharmaceuticals has received final approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) for Modafinil Tablets USP,100 mg and 200 mg.

10 Aug 2012

Malawi launches week-long campaign to test 250,000 people for HIV

"Malawi on Monday launched a week-long campaign to test 250,000 people for HIV in what health authorities called a crucial intervention in a country ravaged by AIDS," Agence France-Presse reports.

8 Aug 2012

Clinton discusses global HIV efforts with South African officials during 11-day African tour

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday visited officials in South Africa and discussed the response to HIV/AIDS, the Associated Press/Huffington Post reports. Speaking with Foreign Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane "in the second cabinet-level strategic dialogue between the two nations," Clinton said "that global efforts to stop the virus 'have saved hundreds of thousands of lives,'" the news service writes.

8 Aug 2012

Mylan receives final FDA approval for Montelukast Sodium Tablets ANDA

Mylan Inc. today announced that its subsidiary Mylan Pharmaceuticals has received final approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) for Montelukast Sodium Tablets, 10 mg, the generic version of Merck's Singulair Tablets.

7 Aug 2012