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Science journal names UNC HIV prevention study as 2011 Breakthrough of the Year

The HIV Prevention Trials Network 052 study, led by Myron S. Cohen, MD of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has been named the 2011 Breakthrough of the Year by the journal Science.

23 Dec 2011

Researchers map every apparent physical interaction of HIV virus with human cells

In perhaps the most comprehensive survey of the inner workings of HIV, an international team of scientists led by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco has mapped every apparent physical interaction the virus makes with components of the human cells it infects—work that may reveal new ways to design future HIV/AIDS drugs.

22 Dec 2011

FDA approves Merck's Isentress to treat HIV-1 infection in children, adolescents

Isentress (raltegravir) was approved today by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use with other antiretroviral drugs for the treatment of HIV-1 infection for children and adolescents ages 2-18.

22 Dec 2011

ACTF, Merck announce new HIV initiatives

Today, Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, and the ADAP Crisis Task Force (ACTF) announced a number of new initiatives to help struggling state AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs) continue to provide access to medicines to people living with HIV.

22 Dec 2011

WHO approves three Mylan ARV therapies to treat HIV/AIDS

Mylan Inc. today announced that its subsidiary Mylan Laboratories Limited has received approval for three antiretroviral (ARV) therapies used to treat HIV/AIDS under the World Health Organization's (WHO) Prequalification of Medicines Programme. The products include:

20 Dec 2011

Routine criminal prosecutions for HIV nondisclosure should be abolished, say experts

Routine criminal prosecutions for not disclosing HIV status should be abolished, write three HIV/AIDS experts in an article in CMAJ.

20 Dec 2011

A call for continued investment in global health, development

In this Politico opinion piece, former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), who chairs the non-profit Hope Through Healing Hands, writes, "Continued investment in the fight to end global AIDS is more than an investment in the lives of families and communities in developing nations -- it is an investment in security, diplomacy and our moral image worldwide."

17 Dec 2011

Immediate ART appears preferable to deferring treatment among recently infected HIV patients

Among people recently infected with HIV, immediate antiretroviral therapy (ART) appears preferable to deferring treatment, according to a new study published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases and now available online.

17 Dec 2011

Virco Lab launches HIV/AIDS EHR technology

Virco Lab, Inc., the U.S. affiliate of Virco BVBA, today announced the launch of AVIGA and AVIGA REPORTER. AVIGA is a web-based electronic health record (EHR) solution with HIV/AIDS disease-specific functionality and AVIGA REPORTER is a web-based, data-reporting module designed specifically for the purposes of conducting HIV/AIDS research and providing reporting capabilities.

15 Dec 2011

People in Swaziland protesting shortages of ARVs amid government financial crisis

In Swaziland, where a "deepening financial crisis is taking a toll on service delivery, and the country is experiencing an unprecedented number of protests over issues such as school closures and a lack of HIV treatment," "a new wave of HIV activism is rising ... as people living with HIV take to the streets in protest, many for the first time in their lives, over continued shortages of antiretroviral (ARV) treatment," PlusNews reports.

14 Dec 2011

Drug users with HIV infection have 74% higher risk of overdose

A study from Rhode Island Hospital is the first to systematically review and analyze the literature on the association between HIV infection and overdose risk.

13 Dec 2011

New guidelines for managing latent tuberculosis from CDC

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released new guidelines on treating so-called “latent” tuberculosis (TB) infection in the United States. They suggest the course of the therapy from about 9 months could be shortened to 3 months.

11 Dec 2011

MCC invests $122M in Lesotho health system to address key challenges, including HIV, TB

"The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), through its partnership with the Millennium Challenge Account-Lesotho, is helping Lesotho address key challenges in its health sector through a $122 million investment in health infrastructure and health systems," IIP Digital reports.

9 Dec 2011

Headache affects one of every two HIV/AIDS patients

A University of Mississippi study of headaches among HIV patients is being hailed as a critical step to improving treatment and reducing unnecessary medical costs among sufferers.

7 Dec 2011

Obama pledges more for fighting HIV/AIDS

On the occasion of World AIDS day on 1st December, President Barack Obama vowed to boost U.S. efforts to fight AIDS with a new target of providing treatment to 6 million people worldwide by 2013, up from an earlier goal of 4 million.

4 Dec 2011

Research roundup: Recession's big impact on men's insurance coverage

Researchers examined three sets of surveillance data and found that of the estimated 1.2 million persons in the United States living with the human immunodeficiency virus, 942,000 persons were aware of their infection. More than three-quarters of those were "linked to care" and among HIV-infected adults in care, "45 percent received prevention counseling, and 89 percent were prescribed antiretroviral therapy."

3 Dec 2011

On World AIDS Day, Obama announces plan to redirect $50 million to fight AIDS

President Barack Obama told advocates, patients and other stakeholders that his administration will do more to get antiretroviral drugs to people infected with HIV - in the United States and in low-income countries around the world.

3 Dec 2011

Obama announces new U.S. commitments to end AIDS domestically, globally

Speaking at the ONE campaign and (RED)'s "Beginning of the End of AIDS" event at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., to mark World AIDS Day on Thursday, "President Obama ... announced a deepened U.S. commitment to fighting the pandemic, declaring 'make no mistake, we are going to win this fight,'" ABC News reports (Bruce, 12/1).

3 Dec 2011

Brazil's ANVISA grants registration for child-adapted formulation of benznidazole for Chagas disease

Today, at the occasion of the 4th DNDi Partners' Meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Dr Carlos Gadelha, Secretary of Science, Technology and Strategic Products, Brazilian Ministry of Health, announced that Brazil's National Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA) granted registration of a new paediatric dosage form of benznidazole, developed through a partnership between the Pernambuco State Pharmaceutical Laboratory (LAFEPE) of Brazil and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi).

3 Dec 2011

South African President introduces National Strategic Plan on HIV, STIs, TB

South African President Jacob Zuma in a speech on Thursday to mark World AIDS Day introduced a new five-year National Strategic Plan on HIV, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and tuberculosis (TB), which "calls for stepped-up prevention efforts to halve new infections of HIV and tuberculosis by 2016 and to put 80 percent of eligible patients on antiretroviral drugs to fight AIDS," Agence France-Presse reports.

3 Dec 2011